


Time For Change

by zniamkisses



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Age Play, Age Regression/De-Aging, Infantilism, Other, Spanking, only kind of though? idk
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-17
Updated: 2014-12-17
Packaged: 2018-03-01 23:19:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 23
Words: 47,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2791367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zniamkisses/pseuds/zniamkisses
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The boys come up with a plan for Niall's bad behavior, and over time he adjusts to his new role.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> tumblr: zniamkisses  
> wattpad: thewhimsical

“Where’s Niall?” Zayn asked Liam as he walked down the stairs.

“Went out,” Liam shrugged from the couch.

“It’s getting kind of late. Don’t we have things to do tomorrow?” Zayn asked worriedly with an annoyed edge.  
Liam sighed and muted the TV. “Yes. His friends from Ireland are in town, and he came downstairs about an hour ago saying he was going out. I had Louis text him to make sure he wasn’t going anywhere too far away.”

“I’m worried about him, Li,” Zayn said exasperatedly.

“I know. So am I. I just wish I could trust him to make good decisions, but I don’t think I can,” Liam said shaking his head.

Zayn nodded. “Well, do you know what time he’ll be back?”

“No idea. He knows we have an early morning tomorrow, and he likes sleep so I reckon he’ll be back before 1:00 or so.”

“I hope so,” Zayn said before turning to go back upstairs.

The boys were worried about Niall rightfully so. Recently, he’d been going out too much, coming home too late, and not getting enough sleep which led to him being rude and snappy, and just generally not taking care of himself the way a 20 year old boy should. They’d obviously had many conversations about what they were going to do about it, but Louis and sometimes Harry had always insisted that he knew what he was doing, and it was just a phase. As the weeks and eventually months dragged out, though, all of the boys began to realize that he was only getting worse.

Liam stared blankly at the TV, lost in his thoughts before Harry came in.

“Hey, mate. I think I’m going to go to bed,” he said with a yawn.

“Alright. I’ll probably head that way soon. I want to make sure Niall gets in okay,” Liam said rubbing his eyes. He hadn’t realized how long he’s been sitting there until he unlocked his phone and the clock said 12:38 AM.

“Yeah, okay. Don’t wait up for him too long,” Harry said with a knowing look.

Liam waved him off. “Night, Harry.”

“Goodnight, Li,” Harry replied, already half way up the stairs.

Liam yawned and leaned back into the couch, closing his eyes and waiting for Niall.

“Shit,” Liam heard Niall whisper as he came in tripping over things and looking for the light switch. Liam sighed and stood up to turn the lights on.

“Fuck,” Niall cursed when he saw Liam standing in the hallway after the bright lights were on.

“Good morning to you too,” Liam said tiredly. “I’m glad you made it home at the respectful hour of,” he paused to look at his phone, “half past three in the morning.”

“Sorry, just lost track of time,” Niall giggled.

Liam raised his eye brows at his obvious drunken state. “I see. Well, you might take some Tylenol before you go to bed so that your hangover isn’t quite so bad when you wake up in three hours.”

“Eh, ’m not even drunk. Jus’ had a few beers is all,” Niall said, stumbling up to his room.

“Whatever,” Liam muttered switching off the lights and finally going to bed.

“Niall, it’s time to wake up! We need to leave in 20 minutes!” Niall groaned at the pounding on his door.

“Be down in a few,” Niall half moaned feeling his head pulse. He really wished he would have just done as Liam said and taken the pain medicine last night (or maybe this morning).

“Don’t be late, Zayn’s already pissed,” Niall could clearly tell it was Louis now. He groaned again and rolled out of bed to open the door for Louis. He leaned against it and closed his eyes.

“What did I do now?” Niall asked taking a deep breath.

“Well, for starters, Liam says you came home shit-faced at almost four and then refused to take anything for your obviously impending hangover,” Louis pointed out.

“Ugh. Why can’t everyone get off my case?” Niall said opening his eyes.

“Because you don’t take care of yourself, mate. Fifteen minutes,” Louis said reaching out to ruffle Niall’s hair. “And make sure to brush your teeth. And maybe take a quick shower. You reek of alcohol,” Louis said with a grimace.

Niall did just that and was downstairs twenty minutes later.

“Finally,” Zayn said clearly agitated.

“Sorry,” Niall muttered walking straight toward the cabinet where the Tylenol was. He took out the bottle and dumped five of them into his hand with every intention of taking them all.

“Niall, you can’t have that many,” Liam scolded. “You’ll make yourself sick.”

“I feel like hell, Liam. I’ll take whatever I want,” Niall snapped.

“No you won’t. You can have two and the rest of it you can deal with yourself. It’s your own fault for going on and getting drunk the night before a full day of interviews,” Liam said, his tone leaving no room for argument.

“Fine,” Niall grumbled. “But I’m taking the rest of them with me so I can take more.”

“I’ll take that,” Harry said, slipping the bottle into his pocket.

“Hey!” Niall said outraged. “I thought you were on my side.”

“Sorry, Ni. Liam’s right about this one,” Harry said.

Niall continued muttering things about the boys ganging up on him and how he could take care of himself all the way out the front door and to the car.

All the boys let out a collective sigh knowing that Niall would be impossible today.

“Oh my god,” Louis said through his teeth. “I’m going to kill him.”

Niall was currently throwing a tantrum like a child about being woken up to get his hair done. Meanwhile, the rest of the boys sat on the couches in the dressing room rolling their eyes at Niall’s antics.

“We have to do something about him before I officially go mad,” Liam mumbled, glad Louis was finally as fed up with Niall as the rest of them.

“Yeah, but what are we supposed to do?” Harry chimed in. “He’s right, you know. He is twenty years old. And we’ve already had an intervention of sorts, he just won’t listen.”

The boys nodded and continued to watch Lou struggle with Niall.

“Oh, come on now, Niall, you’re being worse than Lux when I do her hair,” they heard her say to him.

“That’s it!” Louis said. All the boys turned to give him confused glances. “Don’t you get it? He’s acting like a toddler. He doesn’t take care of himself, he doesn’t listen, and he throws fits. I say we treat him the way he acts.”

Harry and Zayn still looked a little perplexed, but it seemed to click with Liam. He locked eyes with Louis with a smug look on his face.

“That’s actually brilliant, Louis.” Liam said.

“Wait, so we’re going to treat him like a child?” Harry asked.

“Essentially. It’s up to you guys how far you want to take it. There are all kinds of websites for this sort of thing,” Louis said, already looking up things on his phone.

“So how far are we taking this, lads?” Zayn asked a little unsure.

Louis shrugged. “We could just start back at the beginning. Nappies and bottles and cribs and all that.”

“Brilliant,” Liam said. “Why don’t Louis and I run out during our lunch break to get everything while you take Niall to eat?” Liam suggested.

“Alright, yeah,” Zayn said, going through all the pros and cons of this solution in his head.

“Awesome,” Louis said, looking back down at his phone.

Four hours later, Liam and Louis were done shopping and were headed back to the house to set up the guest room as Niall’s new “nursery.”

“I hope he doesn’t freak out too much.” Liam sighed, looking out the window.

“He probably will. But we’ll work through it. Everything will work out.” Louis reassured him.

“Yeah, I know,” Liam replied as they pulled into the driveway.

They set up the large crib in the guest room in less than twenty minutes and then set to work on getting all of the bottles, nappies, dummies, and onesies hidden in the cabinets and drawers. They both sat down on the couch when they were done and articulated a plan to put the entire project into action.

Not too much later, Zayn, Harry, and Niall walked into the house. Harry and Zayn looked exhausted while Niall looked furious about something. Louis and Liam didn’t wait around to ask what he was upset about; they just stood up and made their way toward Niall. When they reached him, Louis not-so-gracefully pulled him to the couch and laid him down.

“Louis, what are you doing?” Niall asked with an agitated tone.

“Don’t worry about it. Just relax,” Louis said. He carefully began to unbutton Niall’s pants, but as Liam suspected would happen, Niall panicked.

“Louis, what the fuck!” Niall screamed, backing away from him on the couch.

"Sorry, mate. Guess we’re doing it the hard way after all,” Louis said with a quick look at the rest of the boys. They all nodded, and so it began.

Harry made a quick grab for Niall’s feet while Liam focused on getting his pants off, and Louis on getting the nappy on. Zayn on the other hand went to run his fingers through Niall’s hair to calm him down. He knew there were several ways to have made this go somewhat smoothly, and he should have known that putting Louis even partially in charge was a bad idea.

Everything was happening so quickly and with four against one, Niall knew it was a losing battle. But that didn’t mean he was about to give up. He yelled and screamed and thrashed, trying to get out of their hold on him. Liam had just gotten him naked from the waist down when Niall kicked his legs in a last ditch effort to get Harry to let go of his feet.

“Get off of me!” Niall yelled with a final kick of his feet upwards. He accomplished his goal of Harry letting go of his feet, but he also kicked Harry right in the face.

“Ow, shit!” Harry cursed and held his nose.

Niall’s eyes widened as he saw Harry’s nose begin to bleed. Liam looked over at Harry and on impulse, flipped Niall over on to his stomach. He gave him ten quick, hard smacks on his bum, each one drawing a different and more pained reaction from Niall.

“Stop, I’m sorry,” Niall gasped, and Liam turned him back over. He waved for Louis to put the nappy on Niall as he had seemingly calmed down enough.

Niall’s eyes were still widened in shock and as Louis finished and sat Niall up, they started to fill with tears. He looked around the room at the four other boys and began to breathe heavily.

“What’s going on?” Niall all but cried out.

Upon seeing Niall’s tears, Liam rushed to his side, eager to provide comfort.

“No, no, no, I want Zayn!” Niall really began to cry from embarrassment and shock and just pure exhaustion.

Zayn was a little surprised that Niall wanted him of all people but mumbled, “Alright,” before going to sit next to Niall. He pulled him into his lap and rocked him back and forth.

“It’s okay, Niall,” Zayn soothed as he smoothed Niall’s hair down.

Niall just shook his head and continued to cry into Zayn’s shoulder while all of the other boys smiled softly, knowing that this really was what he needed.

"Shh, babe, can we explain?” Zayn asked quietly.

Niall just choked out another sob, so the boys decided to go ahead. Liam and Louis sat on opposite sides of Zayn and Niall, and Harry sat down next to Louis.

“So,” Liam started, wiping a few of Niall’s tears away before he buried his face back into Zayn’s shoulder. “We’ve all noticed that you haven’t been taking care of yourself like you should be. You don’t sleep enough or even eat enough, and that makes you grouchy and snappy. We decided that you had plenty of chances, so now we’re going to take care of you instead. For the time being, you’re going to be our baby.”

Niall sniffled but otherwise gave no response.

Louis sighed and rubbed Niall’s back. “We’ll just take it one step at a time.”


	2. Chapter Two

Niall woke up in a strange room and was surrounded by tall, white, wooden bars. He felt all kinds of stuffed animals and pillows and blankets around him. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, confused for a moment. Everything suddenly came back to him when he looked down to find that he was wearing only a t-shirt and a nappy. And just like that, there were angry tears streaking down his face.  
He immediately stood up to see if he could climb out of the giant crib, but it seemed pointless as the bars were about 5 feet tall. Instead, Niall flopped back down on the bed and began throwing everything in the crib onto the floor. He didn’t realize how much noise he was making until the door opened, and Liam walked in.

“Hey, hey, hey, there’s no need to be throwing things,” Liam said sternly, reaching to open the crib. “You could have just called for any of us if you wanted out, yeah?” Liam spoke a little more gently this time after noticing the tear stains on Niall’s cheeks.

“No! I don’t want you!” Niall yelled, beyond caring about how childish he sounded.

Liam sighed. “Well, let’s go on downstairs then,” he said holding his arms out to help Niall out of the crib.

Niall ignored him and got out, grumbling about how he could do it himself. Liam held out his arm to stop him before he could get too far.

“Niall, stop. This is what we’re talking about: the fits, the attitude. It needs to stop. Now, we’re going to go have a full discussion of what all this situation is going to entail. Okay?” Liam lectured.

Niall narrowed his eyes and said, “I hate you!”

Liam would be lying if he were to say that hadn’t hurt; of course he wanted Niall to love him as much as Liam cared for him. But Liam kept a straight face because he knew that this is what Niall needed. “Okay. You can just go and sit in time out until dinner is ready then.”

“I’m not fucking two, Liam,” Niall scoffed.

“Language,” Liam snapped, and Niall glared at him. “And yes, actually, you are. Downstairs to the dining room, now.”

Niall huffed but went down the stairs anyway. He walked all the way to the dining room with Liam following right behind him. As soon as they got there, Liam dragged a chair from the table over to the far corner of the room.

“Sit right here until I come to get you,” Liam said, pointing at the chair. Niall rolled his eyes but sat down in the chair. “Thank you,” Liam said and bent down to kiss the top of Niall’s head.

And so for the next 30 minutes, Niall sat pouting in the wooden chair as he faced the boring wall. He never was one to have a very long attention span, so forcing boredom upon him was like some awful torture method. His mind started to wander to the way the boys had spoken to him and the way that Zayn had comforted him as he cried and how the few hours of sleep he had just gotten were some of the best he’d had in months. And on top of all that, he still wasn’t wearing pants.

Niall shook his head, willing his tears to disappear. And Jesus, when had he started crying so much? When Niall thought about it, he couldn’t even remember the last time he’d cried before today. Niall wiped the tears that had happened to escape his eyes off his face and sniffled.

"Come on babe, you can come out now," Liam said from behind him. Niall put on a brave face before turning around but he knew it didn’t work because Liam still looked sympathetic. "Are you ready to eat dinner?" Liam asked, smoothing Niall’s hair back out of his face.

Without even realizing it, Niall closed his eyes and leaned into Liam’s hand. He barely nodded, but Liam saw and instinctually picked him up from the chair.

Niall’s eyes immediately snapped open at this, and he leaned away from Liam’s hold.

"What are you doing?" Niall asked shocked.

"Carrying you to your seat," Liam said simply, and Niall relaxed for half a second until he felt himself being lowered into a slightly restricting chair. He immediately started thrashing around, not liking the foreign feeling one bit.

"Calm down, Niall," Liam said, trying to keep his patience.

"Why do I have to have a high chair?" Niall almost whined. He had just about given up on fighting the boys because, clearly, it was futile.

“Because,” Harry said as he walked into the dining room from the kitchen, carrying dinner.

“That’s not even a reason,” Niall complained, laying his head down on the tray that had been locked in front of him.

Louis smirked as he overheard the conversation. It took everything in him not to laugh at Niall’s childish whining. The rest of the boys all but ignored Niall as they went to work putting food on the table and on plates.

Zayn set Niall’s plate in front of him, and for the first time that day, Niall’s face brightened. Harry and Zayn had felt badly and knew Niall was having a rough day, so they decided to cook him his favorite meal of chicken and potatoes. They knew that food really was the key to his heart, and Zayn was relieved that Niall was somewhat happier. Niall immediately started shoving the food into his mouth in large bites with the fork he’d been given.

“Slow down, you’re going to be sick, Niall,” Zayn lectured gently. Surprisingly enough, Niall listened to him. Zayn looked shocked and as he looked around the table, he saw that the rest of the boys did too.

Zayn breathed a sigh of relief that at least dinner had gone off without a hitch. But now came the hard part of all of this: explaining it to Niall.

“Alright, then, let’s just go into the living room and sit on the couch, yeah?” Liam said, standing up and picking Niall up out of the high chair. Niall still seemed more than a little skeptical about being carried, but allowed it anyway. Zayn, Louis, and Harry all nodded their agreement, and they all headed toward the living room.

“Okay,” Louis started as soon as they were all situated on the couch. “So you know the basics by now; you have a crib that you will sleep in and a high chair to eat at and you’ll be wearing nappies that you will use,” Louis continued. Niall opened his mouth to object but Liam cut him off.

“And if you throw tantrums like what you did this afternoon, you will be punished, whether it be by time out or a spanking,” Liam said, making sure to make eye contact with the pouting boy on his lap.

“On top of that, you’ll also have bottles before bed and when you wake up so that we can make sure you’re staying hydrated,” Zayn said. “And you’ll have a bath every night, starting tomorrow because it’s already getting too late. As you get more comfortable, which you will,” Zayn added quickly when he saw Niall ready to argue, “We’ll add in more things.”

“And,” Harry started, and Niall just sighed because of course there was more. He was sure Liam had sat down and written a thought-out speech for each of the boys. “We all have names. To get you in more of a ‘head space’ more easily, you’ll call me ‘Papa,’ Zayn ‘Baba,’ Louis ‘Dada,” and Liam ‘Daddy.’”

The boys knew that would be the hardest for Niall, and they were prepared for a full on tantrum. Instead though, Niall just whimpered, “Zayn,” and reached out for him.

“Not Zayn, babe,” Liam said quietly in his ear, knowing that they needed to enforce what they’d just said.

“Baba,” Niall whispered, obviously overwhelmed.

Zayn immediately snatched Niall out of Liam’s arms, extremely eager to cuddle the distraught boy. He felt Niall bury his face into his neck and soon after felt hot tears on his skin. Zayn gave the rest of the boys a look, and Louis hopped up to get a bottle for Niall.

“Shh, baby,” Zayn soothed, bouncing Niall lightly. At the name, Niall just cried harder, wishing he could disappear but settling for cuddling further into Zayn. Zayn made a mental note to not call him that as much, and sighed in a mixture of relief and a little reluctance when Louis strolled back into the room shaking a bottle of milk. Zayn took the bottle from Louis and began to walk up the stairs to Niall’s nursery.

“Love, it’s okay,” Zayn murmured, walking into the nursery and over to the rocking chair that Harry had thoughtfully relocated to the room. Niall didn’t respond, and Zayn sighed as he sat down, rocking them both. “I have something for you, babe,” Zayn said, rubbing Niall’s back.

Niall still didn’t say anything so Zayn shifted him so that he was curled up in Zayn’s lap instead of clinging to him. He carefully pressed the bottle to Niall’s lips and waited for him to open his mouth. He finally gave in and opened his mouth to allow it in. He let the tip of the bottle lie in his mouth for a moment just to test out the feel. A few minutes later, he began to suck on it and felt the warm milk rush into his mouth.

Zayn let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding and began to wipe the half-dry tears off Niall’s face. About five minutes into the bottle, Niall’s eyes began to flutter closed, and his sucking slowed down.

"I think we’re going to be okay," Zayn said down to the half-asleep Niall on his lap.


	3. Chapter Three

Niall woke up in the middle of the night with the strong urge to go to the bathroom. He groaned and tried to roll out of bed like he usually would, once again completely forgetting the situation he was in because of his grogginess. He was suddenly wide awake as he rolled right into the bars of the crib, remembering that there was really no good way to get out.  
“No, no, no, no,” Niall whispered, realizing his fate. He knew he could call for one of the boys, but he really didn’t want to wake them up. He also knew that they would just make him go in the nappy anyway. They had said that was part of this arrangement, and Niall was not happy about it. So, instead of calling for anyone, Niall just sat on the bed willing himself to hold it. He knew it was stupid but it made him feel a little better to know that he wasn’t giving in too easily.

About 15 minutes later (which felt like hours to Niall), his need was getting extreme and his stomach was starting to hurt. He whimpered knowing that his resolve was crumbling, and there was nothing he could do but give in. He went through his options in his head, weighing out who was the best person to call for. He figured Liam and Zayn were his best options, but Liam was definitely stricter, and he could tell that Zayn felt a little sympathetic for him, so he decided Zayn was his best option. While he was thinking, his problem had grown worse, and he was now doubled over in the bed and whining, trying to make the pain in his bladder fade.

Meanwhile, Zayn had just woken up to hear whimpers coming from the room across the hall. He immediately hopped out of bed, worried that Niall had tried to get out of the crib and hurt himself. He walked across the hall and into Niall’s room slowly so that he didn’t startle him.

Zayn would say that he was surprised about the state he found Niall in, but he knew it was only a matter of time until nature stepped in.

“Are you okay, Niall?” Zayn asked gently. Niall’s head snapped up when he heard Zayn’s voice. He was so distracted that he didn’t even realize anyone had walked into the room.

He shook his head, but then realized Zayn probably couldn’t see him through the dark room. “No,” he choked out through the lump in his throat. Zayn turned on a dim lamp in the corner of the room and walked over to open the crib.

“What’s wrong then, babe?” Zayn asked, knowing full well what was wrong.

“I need to go, please let me, please, please, please,” Niall pleaded with him, looking up with tears in his eyes.

“Sorry, love, I can’t,” Zayn said apologetically. “Do you need help? We can go rock until you’re comfortable, hmm?”

Niall shook his head but reached for Zayn anyway. Zayn carried him over to the chair, and sat down so that Niall was sat on his lap. Zayn gently rubbed his lower stomach, wishing that Niall would just make it easier on himself and just let go. He began rubbing a little more intently, and he felt Niall tense up more.

“Shh, Niall, you just need to let go. You’ll feel better afterward, and we’ll get you cleaned up, and it will be no big deal at all,” Zayn whispered to him.

“Nooo,” Niall sobbed out, but began to wet himself. Zayn immediately felt it, and rubbed his stomach the whole way through.

When Zayn was sure he was done, he picked him up and carried him to the changing table that was on the opposite wall. He carefully laid Niall down and got out everything he would need while Niall openly sobbed.

“Shh, Niall. It’s all okay! See, we’re going to get you cleaned up and then you’ll have a fresh nappy and you can go back to bed. I bet you’ll sleep better now that you feel better, yeah?” Zayn tried soothing him, reaching for his nappy to undo it. Zayn knew the boy must have been exhausted and done fighting when Niall didn’t react to him pulling off his soiled nappy at all. His crying, however only worsened, and Zayn was beginning to get a little worried. He just finished changing Niall and picked him back up, bouncing him lightly on his hip.

“Do you want another bottle, babe? That made you feel better last night. Let’s go get one,” Zayn babbled mostly to himself. Niall’s crying didn’t cease all the way from the nursery to the kitchen and back.

By the time they arrived back in the room, Niall had only slightly calmed down and that was because he had tired himself out too much to cry. Zayn sat back down in the rocking chair and softly pushed the bottle between his lips, and Niall shut his eyes and began to drink. He still had tears rapidly leaking out of his eyes, but at least he was calming down. When Niall finished the bottle, he looked up at Zayn with tired, red eyes.

Zayn smiled down at him warmly. “Are you ready to go back to bed?” He asked Niall, wiping the last of his tears away. Surprisingly enough, Niall got more upset at this, and sat up, clinging to Zayn’s neck.

“No!” Niall whined, not wanting to be alone yet. Not after that traumatic experience. He knew that logically he should be more embarrassed that one of his best mates watched him wet himself and then cry about it, but he couldn’t really bring himself to care.

Zayn rubbed his back softly. “Okay…” Zayn said hesitantly. He was beginning to feel drowsy as well, but he didn’t want to leave Niall alone when he was still so sad. He thought about it for a few more minutes and decided that even though the rest of the boys had said Niall needed to start out sleeping nowhere but his crib, he could make an exception for just tonight. “Niall, look at me, babe,” Zayn said, trying to pull Niall back. “I know you’re upset, so for tonight and tonight only, you can come and sleep with me in my bed. But after that, it’s your crib only, do you understand?” Zayn said looking into his eyes.

Niall nodded his agreement and Zayn lifted him back up to go to his bedroom. He laid Niall down on the bed, and then laid down right next to him. He pulled Niall tight against his chest and kissed his forehead. Niall fell asleep to Zayn stroking his hair and humming softly in his ear.


	4. Chapter Four

Zayn woke up a few hours later to sun streaming in through the blinds. He looked down and smiled at the blonde boy still cuddled into him. He kissed Niall’s head once before slowly rolling out of bed as to not wake him up. He stretched as he stood up and made his way downstairs where the rest of the boys were in the kitchen.

“Morning,” Zayn said, going to sit at the kitchen table.

The other boys mumbled their greetings back before Louis asked the question they were all dying to know the answer to.

“So what happened last night?” He asked.  
“Niall used his nappy for the first time,” Zayn sighed, remembering the awful encounter.

“And? Why was he in your bed this morning?” Harry asked curiously.

“He was upset,” Zayn said simply.

“So you caved then?” Louis butted back in.

“Yes. You all would have done the same thing. He was so embarrassed and upset, and he didn’t want to be alone,” Zayn said defensively. “Besides that, I made it clear to him that it was only for one night.” The other boys just sighed in response, giving up on the argument.

“We better wake him up soon if he’s going to be taking a nap today,” Liam said, breaking the momentary silence.

“Okay,” Zayn said, walking to the fridge to get out another bottle of milk. He popped it into the microwave and took it upstairs when it was ready to give to Niall.

He walked into his room and sat on the edge of the bed next to Niall. He gently began to rub his back and had to hold in a coo as Niall’s eyes began to flutter open.

“Good morning,” Zayn murmured, smiling down at him. “It’s time to wake up, babe,” he said when Niall started to bury his head into the pillow.

“No, I don’t want to,” Niall whined.

“Come on, now. Don’t make me go get Liam,” Zayn said half-jokingly.

“I don’t care,” Niall snapped at him.

“Hey,” Zayn said, not wanting to start off the day with Niall in trouble. “Come here and have your bottle so we can have a nice morning and go eat breakfast. Papa’s making eggs and bacon.” Niall visibly tensed at the name but didn’t move, and Zayn sighed. “Come on then,” Zayn said as he heaved Niall into his arms, realizing that he wasn’t going to get up himself. He decided to take Niall downstairs so that they would be more comfortable. He sat down with Niall on his lap again and proceeded to give it to him while Niall drank with a pout while watching TV. He finished quickly, and the two boys went to the kitchen for breakfast.

“Good morning, Niall,” Harry said brightly as soon as he walked into the room.

“Morning,” Niall mumbled grouchily as he trudged over to his seat. He stood next to the high chair with a glare, waiting for someone to put him in it. Zayn and Harry shared a look before Harry walked over to Niall and helped him into the high chair. He placed Niall’s food in front of him as the rest of the boys took their places around the table. Niall picked up his fork and began to push his food around on the plate, not really wanting to eat. Unfortunately for him, the other boys noticed.

“You need to eat, Niall,” Liam said. Niall scowled down at the food and then at Liam, but begrudgingly shoved a bite into his mouth. “Thank you,” Liam said. He was glad that Niall was listening to them, even if he wasn’t doing it happily. That could wait for another day.

“So, how did you sleep, Niall?” Louis asked him.

Niall looked up at him blankly. “Fine,” he said.

“Yeah? We noticed you weren’t in your bed this morning,” Louis continued. Zayn threw Louis a harsh look, while Niall looked down at his lap and shrugged.

Louis ignored Zayn and pressed on. “You are expected to sleep in it. That was part of the arrangement, remember?”

“It was just for last night,” Niall whispered, still looking down at his lap, his face red. “Zay-“ Niall cut himself off. “Baba said so,” he finished more embarrassed than ever. He didn’t understand why Louis was picking on him; it was Zayn’s idea that he sleep with him, after all. Niall didn’t dare look up, knowing that he might start crying again, and he was really trying to stop doing that so much.

“Niall and I had an agreement, didn’t we love?” Zayn said, glaring at Louis for even bringing it up. Niall just nodded mutely.

“Right,” Liam finally spoke up, breaking the tension. “Niall and I are going to go watch some TV, how does that sound, babe?” Liam asked him, already going over to get him out of the high chair. Niall didn’t respond, but lifted his arms for Liam to carry him back to the living room, and Liam counted that as a small victory.

As soon as they were out of the room, Zayn turned to look at Louis.

“What the fuck, Louis?” Zayn tried not to shout. “I already told you what happened. And he’s sensitive about it! How would you feel if you were being forced into something like this and then your best mate made you piss yourself?” Zayn ranted.

Louis held up his hands in defeat. “Fine, fine. But you do need to remember that this is technically a punishment.”

“How can I forget when you’re all shoving these things down his throat and expecting him to be fine with it? Who do you think is there to pick up the pieces when he’s upset about you all antagonizing him?”

“It’ll be fine once he’s used to it,” Louis said off-handedly.

“Yeah, and there’s better ways to get him used to it, Louis,” Zayn said impatiently.

Louis sighed. “Okay, fine.”

“Just be more conscientious of what you say to him for right now,” Zayn said exasperatedly.

Meanwhile, Niall was sitting on Liam’s lap in the living room willing himself to not cry. The TV was on in front of him, but wasn’t paying any attention to what was on. He climbed off Liam’s lap suddenly, and Liam looked up at him curiously.

“What are you doing, babe?” He asked him.

Niall just looked down at his feet. “I need to go again,” he whispered.

“Go where?” Liam asked, genuinely confused.

“The bathroom,” Niall mumbled, looking anywhere but at Liam.

Liam took his wrist and pulled him back down onto his lap. He stroked Niall’s hair as he cuddled into Liam’s chest. “Just go, love. You’re okay,” Liam soothed.

Niall was a mess. He didn’t know how this was ever supposed to get easier. He just shook his head, and cried into Liam’s chest, recognizing that it was pointless to hold it. A few minutes later, he let go, and just like that, Liam was carrying him up to the nursery to change him.

"It wasn’t so bad now, was it lovey? Shh," Liam cooed at him as he finished changing him.

Niall’s tears had mostly stopped. Instead, he just looked warily at Liam and held his hands up to be taken back downstairs. Liam smiled at him and lifted him up, kissing him lightly on the cheek before Niall put his head down on his shoulder.

When they arrived back in the living room, the rest of the boys were also there watching TV. Liam sat down on the couch next to Louis.

"Niall? Can you look at me, sweetness?" Louis asked as soon as Liam sat down with Niall. Niall slowly turned his head to look at Louis with puffy eyes. Louis smiled lightly and then continued. "I’m sorry for being mean earlier. I know this is hard, and we’re all so happy that you’re listening even though it is."

"It’s okay," Niall mumbled. Zayn watched their encounter from the other side of the room and smiled.

Louis smiled brightly and kissed his forehead. “Fantastic! How about a movie?”


	5. Chapter Five

“It’s not fair!” Niall yelled, stomping his foot.

“That’s enough, Niall,” Louis snapped, quickly becoming impatient. “I’m sorry you don’t like it, but that’s the way it is.” Niall huffed and stormed outside to the car that was in the driveway.

Harry rolled his eyes at Niall’s actions. “And he says he doesn’t act like a child.”  
The other boys hummed in agreement, still trying to get everything together for the long day ahead of them. They were going back to work after having a one of their rare weekends off, and they had decided that Niall would not be dropping his position as the “baby” while they were working. Of course, the first question he had asked when he found out that they would be recording, having meetings, and doing interviews was if he could have his underwear back for the day. He was quickly rebuffed by the boys, which had led to the fit he was throwing right now.

Zayn picked up the “baby bag” (which was really just a normal black back pack) and swung it over his shoulder. As a last minute thought, he ran upstairs and grabbed Niall’s blanket from the crib. He figured it wouldn’t hurt for Niall to try to get a few short naps in while they were in the car.

“I’m going to head on out to the car, lads,” Zayn said.

“Alright, we’ll be out in a few minutes,” Liam replied.

Zayn walked out to the car to find Niall sitting in the very back, furiously wiping tears off his face. Zayn looked at him sympathetically before climbing into the back with him.

“What’s the matter, love?” Zayn asked with his voice full of concern.

“I’m mad,” Niall pouted. Zayn had to try really hard not to grin at the boy’s childish actions.

“Can you tell me why?” Zayn pressed on.

“Because it’s not fair!” Niall said, more frustrated than ever.

“Yeah, you said that,” Zayn said. He wrapped his arm around Niall’s shoulders and pulled him into his chest. “What’s this really about?”

Niall took a deep breath and whispered, “What if someone sees it?”

 

“Is that what has you all worked up?” Zayn asked. Niall shrugged in response, and Zayn pulled his face up to look him in the eyes. “No one’s going to see, babe. I promise. We’ll all be very careful. It’ll be fine,” Zayn reassured him.

Niall half nodded and turned to face the window again.

Zayn, however, continued. “But,” he began. “I would suggest you stop with the attitude. It’s getting old, and you’re going to get yourself punished.” Again, Niall didn’t respond. “Maybe you didn’t get enough sleep, and you need to nap on the way to the studio.” Zayn said, draping the blanket over Niall as the boys came out and got in the car. Niall kept his hard gaze focused out the window.

“Okay,” Harry said, getting in the drivers sear. “Are we all ready?”

The boys all said yes, and they were off to the studio. Not even five minutes into the drive, Niall’s resolve was faltering. He was beginning to nod off as he looked out the window into the still-rising sun. As soon as he realized he was falling asleep, though, Niall would jerk his head back up and act like it had never happened. It went on like this all the way to the studio, and Zayn shook his head as he got out of the car with a grumbling Niall following behind him. He had thought to shove Niall’s blanket that he’d brought into the black bag, knowing that at some point it would be utilized.

Soon enough, they found themselves in the recording area furnished with multiple couches and tables and chairs. While the rest of the boys went to sit on the various couches, Niall stood stubbornly near the door.

“Come on then, babe. Don’t you want to come sit down with me?” Harry asked with a smile, while patting the couch.

“I’m not a fucking dog,” Niall scoffed.

“Niall James!” Liam scolded, already off the couch. “What have we said about cursing?” Liam said, grabbing Niall’s chin.

Niall just stared back at him angrily, and Liam lost his patience. He spun Niall around and gave him seven hard smacks to his bum. Even though they were over his nappy and barely hurt at all, Niall’s face still flushed with embarrassment. It would have been so easy for the producers they were working with today to walk in at that exact time and see him getting spanked by one of his other bandmates. He yelped as Liam unexpectedly landed the last one to his thighs, his face darkening impossibly more red. Liam turned him to face him again, and Niall immediately looked down.

“There’s so much more where those came from if you don’t cut the act, Niall. I’m not bluffing. I will not hesitate to punish you, even if other people are in the room,” Liam said sternly.

“Okay,” Niall said weakly, turning to walk to one of the couches that none of the boys were on. He blinked rapidly, looking down at his lap and playing with his fingers. He was glad that none of them were intent on scolding him as well, so he just settled for making himself invisible as people began to filter in to help them record. He was still sat unmoving as he heard one of them tell Liam, Louis, and Harry to go into the booth to finish a song. He felt someone sit down closely to him.

Zayn spread the blanket out over Niall and gently pulled him into his chest. “That wasn’t very much like the sweet boy I know you are,” Zayn began lightly. “I know you’re tired. Sleep, love,” Zayn said into his hair.

“Can’t,” Niall whispered, not speaking up in fear that his voice would break.

“Why not?” Zayn asked, rubbing Niall’s back.

Niall shrugged, and Zayn pressed on. “What has you so worried, hmm?”

Niall stayed silent, unable to believe how Zayn picked up on his emotions. He wanted to stay to himself, but he couldn’t help but confide in Zayn. “Would he really?” Niall asked shakily.

“Would who really do what?” Zayn asked, knowing the answer already, but wanting Niall to get more comfortable talking about things like this.

“Would… Daddy,” Niall began, realizing he was using the name for the first time. “Would Daddy really… you know, spank me in front of other people?” Niall finally finished.

Zayn’s arms tightened around Niall. He could understand why that was such a big concern to him, especially considering how worried and embarrassed he was about the nappy, which no one could even see.

“We don’t have to worry about that if you just be good,” Zayn said, kissing the top of Niall’s head.

“But I’m not good,” Niall wailed into Zayn’s chest. Zayn sighed and pulled Niall fully into his lap, rocking him back and forth.

“Shh, yes you are. You’re such a good boy for me and for all of us. You’re being so good,” Zayn soothed. “And we know it’s hard, and you’re going to make mistakes, but that’s why we’re doing this, remember? And when you make mistakes, you’re not bad, you just made a mistake. Everyone does, babe,” Zayn continued, still rocking Niall in his lap. Niall had calmed down a great deal from Zayn’s little speech and now sat sniffling in his lap, clutching his t-shirt.

“I’m sorry,” Niall mumbled against his neck.

“It’s alright, baby,” Zayn said, noticing that he’d let the pet name slip out a little too late. He tensed, waiting for Niall to react and sighed when he didn’t. “I love you so much, Niall,” Zayn said quietly into his ear.

“I love you too,” Niall said sleepily.

“Sleep now, Ni. You have nothing to worry about,” Zayn said in the gentlest voice he could.


	6. Chapter Six

"I don’t mean to bring the next terrible news but…" Harry began as he, Zayn, and Louis sat in the living room while Liam was upstairs giving Niall a bath. 

"What now?" Louis sighed. 

"I was just thinking that… Niall still hasn’t messed his nappy. Isn’t that kind of unhealthy?" Harry said.

"Oh. I guess he hasn’t," Zayn said, sitting up and looking concerned. 

"I totally forgot to be quite honest," Louis joined in.

"What do we do? He’s not going to do it willingly," Zayn mumbled, not looking forward to the meltdown that was coming. 

Louis shrugged and said, “Just slip some of those laxatives into his bottle. The ones with magnesium in them? If you give it to him before bed, he’ll go in his sleep.”

"You say it like it’s so easy," Zayn said exasperatedly. "You’re not the one that has to deal with the tears in the aftermath."

"Hey, you know any of us would," Louis said defensively. "It’s not our fault he only ever wants you."

"I know," Zayn sighed. 

"So we have a plan then?" Harry asked after a moment of awkward silence. 

"Yeah, I’ll go make it now," Louis said, standing from the couch. 

Less than a minute later, Niall came sauntering down the stairs with damp hair and his favorite onesie on.

"Hi, love," Harry smiled at him. "Did you have a nice bath?"

"Yeah," Niall said, going to stand in front of Harry.

"What’s wrong?" Harry asked him, opening his arms for hm. 

Niall sat on his lap and said, “I’m sorry for being rude to you earlier. I didn’t mean to.”

"You were already forgiven, babe," Harry said, kissing his nose. 

"Okay," Niall said. Harry grinned at him and began tickling his sides. He had Niall in fits of giggles in seconds, and Zayn thought that if his own smile got any bigger his face would crack. It was the first time he’d heard Niall’s carefree laughter in weeks, and it was such a relief to hear the happy noise again. Harry stopped and pulled Niall against his chest with a smile. Niall cuddled into him until Louis came in with his bottle moments later. 

"Alright, Ni, time for bed," Zayn said, picking him up from Harry’s lap and taking the bottle from Louis. 

"Wait," Niall said, beginning to squirm in Zayn’s arms. 

"What?" Zayn asked, grasping him tighter so he didn’t drop him. 

"Wanna say goodnight," Niall huffed out, still squirming.

Zayn smiled brightly and immediately put him down. He watched as Niall walked over to Harry and hugged him. 

"Goodnight, babe. I love you," Harry said, squeezing Niall and kissing the top of his head. 

"Love you too, Papa," Niall mumbled. Harry beamed, and Niall walked over to Louis.

Louis smiled and pulled Niall into him as he began whispering things into his ear that had Niall giggling like mad. A few moments later, Niall turned around and walked back to Zayn with one of the biggest smiles Zayn had seen on him in quite a while. Zayn’s heart swelled as he held out his hand for Niall to take. On their way to Niall’s room, they ran into Liam. 

"What, no hugs for me?" Liam asked, feigning hurt. Niall laughed and went to hug Liam. 

"Goodnight, sweetheart," Liam said, kissing Niall’s cheek. 

"Night. Love you," Niall said, rubbing his face into Liam’s shoulder.

"Love you too," Liam said, giving Zayn a skeptical look over Niall’s head. Zayn simply shrugged.

Soon enough, Niall turned away and walked into his room, standing next to the rocking chair and waiting expectantly for Zayn. Zayn sat down in the chair, and Niall was in his lap in an instant. He poked the bottle through Niall’s lips and watched regretfully as Niall happily gulped it down. He hated that they were about to ruin Niall’s amazing (albeit shocking) mood, but he knew that it had to be done. So, he sat rocking and stroking Niall’s still-damp hair off his face. 

As soon as Niall was done, Zayn stood up and carried Niall over to his crib. What he wasn’t expecting was for Niall to cling to him when he tried to lay him down in it. 

"No," Niall whined.

"What is it, love?" Zayn asked, confused at Niall’s actions. 

"Wanna stay with you," Niall whined again. Zayn sighed and sat back down in the rocking chair. 

"Niall, we talked about this, remember? You can’t sleep with me every night. It was only the one night. We promised your other daddies, and we don’t want to break a promise to them, do we?" Zayn asked feeling a little guilty for the last reason. 

Niall looked down as tears pooled in his eyes. “Yeah,” he muttered. “Just don’t want to be alone,” he whimpered. 

"I’m sorry, babe." Zayn said, and he really was. He wished Niall could come and cuddle with him every night, but he knew the other boys would kill him not to mention it would hinder his progress. "It is time for bed though. If you need me or anyone you can just call for us, and we’ll be here in a second," Zayn said standing back up to put Niall in bed. He stood next to the crib with Niall in his arms, rocking him side to side. When he felt the tension in Niall’s body start to alleviate, he lowered him into the bed. "Goodnight, baby," Zayn whispered to him. "I love you," he said right before shutting the door. 

 

 

Hours later, as expected, Liam heard loud wailing coming from the room next door. He was immediately out of bed and outside the room. He saw Zayn come out of his room as well but waved him off to say he could handle this one. Zayn looked a bit questionable but decided to let Liam do it. 

Liam quietly walked into the room, shutting the door silently behind him. He walked to the small table lamp and turned it on and then looked at Niall. His heart almost broke at the sight of Niall curled on his side, facing the wall as his body shook with sobs. 

"Niall, love?" Liam said gently as he opened the side of the crib. 

"No," Niall wailed, scooting further away from Liam.

"Come here, Ni," Liam said rubbing his back. 

"Don’t touch me!" Niall screeched. 

"Don’t you want some help?" Liam asked calmly. Niall slowly turned around and looked at Liam with tear-flooded eyes. Liam had to stop himself from cooing at the distressed boy. "Come on, darling. Let’s get you all fixed up."

Niall reluctantly put his arms up, and Liam lifted him, carrying him over to the changing table without a second thought. After Zayn had gone up to put Niall to bed, Louis and Harry filled him in on what was happening with Niall. Liam knew that Niall was rather attached to Zayn so he had mentally decided that if one of the other boys didn’t take care of Niall, he would. 

"Shh, Niall," Liam said lovingly as he unzipped Niall’s onesie. He was getting worried because Niall’s breathing had become erratic and he was starting to cough. "You’re going to be sick, lovey. You need to calm down."

"I’m sorry," Niall managed to choke out as Liam untaped the dirty nappy around his waist. 

"There’s nothing to apologize for, babe. You’re being so good," Liam cooed at him as he finished and threw the messy nappy into a bag. 

Niall was having none of it, though. He just covered his face with his hands in embarrassment and continued to cry. Liam looked at him sympathetically and went to go get one of the many teddy bears that were in Niall’s crib. 

"Here, Ni, look what I have for you," Liam said, pushing the bear into his hands. Niall snatched it from Liam and buried his face into the plushy animal instead. Liam smiled softly at the endearing action and went back to putting a new nappy on Niall. He finished quickly and picked Niall back up from the table after zipping his pajamas back up. Niall still hadn’t removed his face from the teddy and continued to sniffle into it. 

"Okay, now we’re done," Liam said as he bounced Niall on his hip for a few moments. Niall had slowly switched out the bear for Liam’s shoulder. "You’re alright, boo. I bet your tummy feels better now too, doesn’t it?"

Apparently this wasn’t the right thing to say because Niall was suddenly sobbing again into Liam’s chest. 

"Oh, love," Liam murmured, kissing the side of his head and pacing around the room with Niall in his arms. In the midst of all of Niall’s hysterics, Zayn came into the room with a bottle for him. Liam took it and silently thanked him as he went to sit down with Niall. "Niall," Liam called gently, holding the bottle near his face. "I have your bottle." 

At this, Niall unburied his face and slowly accepted the bottle into his mouth. Liam watched as Niall sucked on it and tears continued to leak out of his eyes. Niall still had the stuffed bear cuddled tightly into his chest, which Liam just found incredibly cute. 

When Niall was finished and asleep in Liam’s lap, Liam stood up and walked over to the crib to put him back in bed. Right before lowering him into it though, Liam changed his mind. There were really on two or three hours of sleep left, and he hated the thought of leaving Niall alone. He sighed as he realized that the way he was feeling was probably very close to how Zayn had a few nights ago. Liam shook his head and plucked Niall’s blanket from the crib as he walked out of the room decisively. The other boys would just have to get over it.


	7. Chapter Seven

When Niall woke up the next morning, he was in Liam’s room alone. His eyebrows knitted together in confusion. He obviously remembered what happened the night before, but he didn’t remember being in bed with Liam. He rolled around and stretched, loving the feeling of being in a bed larger than what his crib was. He found himself subconciously rubbing the fur of the stuffed teddy that was still in his arms from when it had been handed to him last night. He yawned and got out of the bed, walking downstairs with the teddy where he heard the other boys talking and smelled something cooking for breakfast.  
"Good morning, Niall," Zayn smiled at him as he walked into the living room. His smile grew at the addition of the stuffed toy Niall had dangling from one hand. Niall didn’t respond and instead just sat in Zayn’s lap, rubbing his face into Zayn’s shoulder and cuddling the bear to his chest. "Did you sleep well?" Zayn asked, running his fingers through Niall’s hair.

Niall shrugged, not really wanting to talkabout the events from last night. He was sure Zayn and the restof the boys knew about it already anyway. “I’m just hungry,” Niall said.

Zayn chuckled and stood up with Niall in his arms. “Good thing Daddy made breakfast, hmm?” Zayn said as he walked into the kitchen. “Niall’s ready for breakfast,” Zayn announced to the rest of the boys.

As Niall looked around the kitchen, he made eye contact with Liam. Although Liam was looking at him with a smile, Niall couldn’t help but turn his face into Zayn’s neck as he became embarrassed. Liam frowned at Niall’s actions but wasn’t too offended as he knew that it was to be expected. He did, however, notice the bear that Niall had a death grip on and smiled to himself in victory. He couldn’t believe it had actually stuck, and he was glad Niall had a “comfort item” now.

Zayn set Niall down in his high chair and noted how quick Niall was to look down and bury his face into the top of the stuffed animal’s head. He decided to let Niall hold onto it for a few more moments, but knew it would have to go during breakfast so that it wouldn’t get dirty. Zayn left Niall to cuddle the bear and went to get his breakfast.

A few minutes later, he set Niall’s breakfast and bottle in front of him and said, “Ni, can I have your teddy while you eat so he doesn’t get dirty?”

Niall slowly looked up at Zayn, and reluctantly handed the bear over to him. Niall knew it was silly to want such a childish thing, but he couldn’t help it. It was nice to have something to hug when he got nervous or to hide his face into when he was embarrassed. And he knew the boys wanted him to do more little juvenile things, so what was the harm in keeping them happy? As soon as Zayn had taken the bear (which Niall had mentally and very originally named Ty because of his tie dyed fur), Niall looked down at his lap. Zayn frowned at the boy’s loss of confidence, which had seemed to be abundant the night before. He knew, however, that Niall would probably be upset for the day and would be fine later.

Harry sat down next to Niall and lifted a fork full of food from Niall’s plate to his mouth. “Come on, Niall. I thought you were hungry?” He said with a smile.

"I am," Niall said with a slight pout, taking the food into his mouth.

"Taste good?" Harry asked as he scooped another bite onto the utensil.

Niall just nodded and continued to eat as Harry fed him. Eventually, though, he got sick of all of the boys looking at him so fondly and realized what was actually happening. He suddenly grabbed the fork from Harry’s hand and started to feed himself.

"I can feed myself," he remarked, now embarrassed. Harry sighed internally, but nodded, knowing that Niall would open up in his own time. After Niall had finished eating, they all noticed that Niall still had not touched his bottle.

"Are you going to drink that by yourself or do you want to go and sit with one of us and drink it?" Louis asked, motioning toward the bottle.

Niall blinked at him, knowing exactly what he wanted to do but not wanting to voice it.

Liam sensed his discomfort and decided to take matters into his own hands. “Come on, we’ll go sit, and you can have your bottle, how’s that?”

Niall whined and reached for his teddy that Zayn had set a few feet away on an empty chair. “Want Ty first.”

"Who?" Liam asked, confused for a second. He suddenly remembered when he spun around to see what Niall was pointing at. "Oh!" Liam exclaimed. "So you named him Ty then? That makes sense," Liam chuckled as he gently pushed it into Niall’s impatient arms.

He instantly cuddled into it, mumbling, “Yeah.”

Liam smiled at him and kissed the top of his head. He relaxed into the couch and moved Niall around so that he was cradled in his lap. “You have to move Ty if you’re going to have your bottle, love,” Liam said lovingly.

Niall whimpered and removed the bear from his face. He screwed his eyes shut and opened his mouth expectantly, and Liam put it in. He immediately began sucking it down quickly, not wanting to further his embarrassment. He opened his eyes when he felt Liam stroking his cheek, and his eyes involuntarily filled with tears as he looked at Liam. Liam frowned when he noticed this and quickly wiped a few tears that had escaped his eyes with his thumb.

"What’s wrong, babe? Why are you sad?" Liam asked as he brought Niall to sit up in his lap. Niall quickly went to hide his face in Ty, but Liam snatched it away before he could. Niall sobbed as Liam held the bear just out of reach, hating him for taking away the thing that was bringing him comfort at the moment. "No. You’re going to talk to me first, and then you can have him back. Understand?" Liam said. He wasn’t really trying to be mean, he just needed Niall to understand that it wasn’t good to hide when he was upset.

"Embarrassed," Niall whimpered, purposely not looking into Liam’s eyes.

"Why are you embarrassed? Is it because of last night?" Liam quizzed him. Niall sucked in a breath and nodded, still avoiding Liam’s eyes. "Oh, Ni. That was exactly what we wanted you to do. It’s all okay, we knew that it was part of it when we started doing this. And we’re only doing it because we love you, remember?" Liam stopped and gently grabbed Niall’s chin. "Because I love you."

Niall hesitantly nodded at Liam, and Liam kissed his nose. “Are you going to stop being sad now? Because I liked happy Niall quite a bit last night. Happy Niall make me very happy as well,” Liam said, handing the bear back to Niall and tickling his tummy.

Niall grinned and began to squirm and giggle as Liam tickled him and kissed his face all over. “Stop, Daddy!” Niall squealed, playfully batting at Liam’s hands. Liam beamed as he realized that the name had finally begun to just roll off his tongue. He suddenly stopped and hugged Niall close to him.

Soon enough their moment was ruined as Louis came bounding into the room. He threw himself onto the couch next to Niall and Liam and threw his head back.

"So what are we going to do today?" He asked looking up at Liam.

"I don’t know," Liam shrugged. "I really need to run to the store. What did you have in mind?" Niall tensed at the mention of going out in public, and Liam rubbed his back.

"Well, you and Zayn go to the store and Harry and I will stay with Niall," Louis suggested. Niall was starting to get even more worried now. He was obviously more comfortable with Liam and Zayn, and even though he loved Harry and Louis, he was a bit wary of staying at home with just the two of them.

"Yeah, that’s fine," Liam said, not sensing any of Niall’s distress. "I’ll just go let Zayn know," he said, beginning to stand up with Niall still wrapped around him. When he tried to put Niall down, however, the boy just latched onto his neck tighter. "You want to come with me?" Liam asked Niall.

Niall nodded quickly, and Liam stood back up, walking into the kitchen where Zayn was still doing dishes.

"You and I are going to go out to run to the store in a bit," Liam announced to Zayn.

"Oh, good," Zayn nodded, drying his hands on a towel. He turned around and noticed Niall’s wide eyes, smiling at him. "Are you staying with Dada and Papa, then?"

Niall nodded slowly at the question, knowing that he for sure didn’t want to go out today. Meanwhile, Liam was realizing that the reason Niall had so quickly adjusted to their new “names” was probably due to the fact that they were what Zayn continuously referred to them as. He made a mental note to do that as well.

"I’m going to go get ready. Can we leave in about ten minutes?" Liam asked, not wanting to waste the day away getting groceries.

Niall didn’t hear Zayn’s response because he was too busy being so anxious about Zayn and Liam leaving so soon. He knew it was illogical, but he felt like he needed both of them, Zayn especially. Harry and Louis had never changed him or even given him a bottle. Niall again internally berated himself for being concerned about what were really considered to be trivial things by the other boys, but he tightened his grip on Liam as he walked to his bedroom anyway. Once they arrived in Liam’s room, he attempted to place Niall on the bed, but Niall wouldn’t let go of him.

"Niall, I need to get ready, babe," Liam said, trying again.

"No," Niall moaned.

Liam huffed, not understanding why Niall was being so clingy. And since he was being clingy, why couldn’t he do it with one of the other boys that weren’t trying to get ready to leave in ten minutes.

"If you don’t want to sit down and be a good boy while I’m getting dressed then you can go downstairs. I don’t have time to cuddle you all day," Liam said. He didn’t mean for it to be harsh, but it came across that way, and Niall couldn’t stop his arms from going limp around Liam’s neck as he deflated slightly. "Thank you," Liam said exasperatedly as he finally set Niall down and turned to his closet to get clothes out.

Niall grabbed Ty from where he’d fallen on the bed next to him and quickly fled from the room and to the nursery. He realized as he walked in that he couldn’t curl up on the bed because he didn’t actually know how to open the sides, so he walked to the rocking chair in the corner of the room and sat in it, hugging his knees and Ty to his chest as he let tears roll down his cheeks.

Liam looked regretfully at the door after Niall had slammed it in his haste. He had blatantly forgotten about Niall’s newfound sensitivity to very particular subjects, and he couldn’t have felt worse about it. He continued changing and walked back downstairs where he assumed Niall would be. When he got there, though, he only saw Zayn sitting down with Louis and Harry waiting for him.

"There’s Mr. Punctual," Zayn said jokingly, and Liam cracked a smile as the other boys laughed knowing that Liam was always a stickler for being on time, and he had gotten ready five minutes late.

Liam shook his head, and he and Zayn began walking out of the house, forgetting completely about his half-hearted search for Niall.

Louis and Harry sat watching TV for about five minutes before Harry realized Niall was missing.

"Wait, where’s Niall?" Harry asked Louis curiously.

"I don’t know," Louis said, looking around as if Niall was going to pop up from behind a piece of furniture.

"I’ll go look for him upstairs," Harry said, jumping up to go search for him.

His search ended quickly as Niall’s room was the first place he looked. When he saw Niall curled up in the chair, red faced and tear-soaked cheeks, his heart broke.

"Aw, love," Harry said, rushing over to him. "What’s wrong?"

Niall just shook his head, and Harry lifted him up and rocked him around the room in his arms.

"Want Baba," Niall finally sobbed into Harry’s neck.

Harry sighed. “He’ll be back soon, Ni. But until then, you have me!” Harry said brightly. “Why don’t we go watch a movie, yeah? I’ll let you pick it out because we both know how Dada picks out dumb movies,” Harry whispered the last part to him like it was a secret and Niall laughed quietly. He nodded as his tears began to subside.

Louis looked slightly confused as Harry came down carrying Niall, but Harry ignored him and carried Niall over to where the movies were. He set Niall down and said, “Go ahead. Anything you want that Daddy won’t kill me for letting you watch.”

Niall pouted at even his movie selection being supervised but ended up picking out The Avengers. He held it out to Harry hopefully, and he nodded and smiled at Niall.

"Good choice. I like this movie," Harry said.

He put the movie in and went to sit down. When he noticed Niall standing in the middle of the room, he motioned for him to come sit between Louis and himself. “Come sit down, love.”

Niall walked toward them and sat down, curling into himself and his teddy, which he was still crushing to himself. Louis slung an arm over his shoulders and pulled him in to cuddle him to his side as the watched the movie, and Niall sighed happily. He was glad he got to spend more time with Louis and Harry, and besides, he loved The Avengers.

Liam and Zayn walked back into the house with armfuls of groceries right as the movie was about to end.

"We’re home," Zayn shouted through the house. Niall flew off the couch and toward the kitchen. Zayn barely had time to catch his balance when Niall came crashing into him. "Oof," he grunted.

"Missed you," Niall said, cuddling into Zayn.

"I missed you too," Zayn said, kissing Niall’s forehead. Zayn hugged Niall for a moment longer before he pulled away to begin putting the gorceries away.

"Niall?" Niall heard Liam say behind him. He turned around slowly and looked at Liam shyly. Liam sighed dejectedly and held his arms out for Niall. Niall walked into him, accepting the comfort that he had wanted before Liam left. "I’m sorry for snapping at you, Ni. I didn’t mean it. And I’ll make time to cuddle you all the time if that’s what you want," Liam said, pushing Niall’s hair out of his eyes as he talked to him.

Niall grinned at Liam and went back to hugging him.


	8. Chapter Eight

“Niall, we really need to go,” Zayn yelled up the stairs.

Niall stomped out of his room, slamming the door behind him and looked at Zayn defiantly from the top of the stairs. “I can take myself to the doctor!” He protested.

“We’ve been through this. No, you’re not going by yourself. The last two times you’ve had this appointment scheduled, you skipped out on it. Now please get your shoes, and let’s go before you’re late,” Zayn said, his tone daring Niall to not cooperate.  
Niall glared at him, still not moving to get his shoes. Zayn began to walk upstairs toward him, knowing that absolutely nothing was going to get done unless he forced Niall to do it. He grabbed Niall’s wrist as he approached him and proceeded to drag him to his room. Niall just dug his heels into the carpet as a last-ditch effort, but Zayn was stronger. He rolled his eyes and picked Niall up, throwing him over his shoulder as he landed two swats to his nappy-covered bum. Niall yelped and stopped moving, not wanting to get a spanking as much as if not more than he didn’t want to go to the doctor. Zayn set Niall down in front of him and grabbed some shoes. After slipping them on Niall’s feet, he stood back up to talk to him.

“Now we’re going to the appointment, and you’re going to cooperate and do what the doctor says. I don’t have time for bad behavior today, and you can already count on having a timeout as soon as we get home for that little tantrum you just had. Understood?” Zayn lectured sternly. He hated being the strict one, but the other boys had some recording to do today, which left Zayn and Niall by themselves and with a perfect opportunity to get Niall’s doctor’s appointment that he’d been avoiding out of the way.

Niall looked down at his feet, nodding slightly. He wasn’t used to Zayn being so stern with him. Usually he would just cuddle Niall until he agreed to do whatever it was, but Niall figured he’d probably gone a little too far today, considering this battle had been going on for about an hour.

Zayn kissed Niall’s head briefly and grabbed his teddy bear from the floor before taking his hand to lead him to the car. When they got to it, Niall walked to go sit in the passenger seat, but Zayn grabbed his hand before he could and pointed at the back seat.

“But why,” Niall whined, stomping his foot. Zayn had to bite his lip to keep from laughing.

“I said so,” Zayn said, opening the back door for him.

“That’s a bad reason,” Niall grumbled, stalking over to where Zayn was holding the door open for him. He sat down on the black leather seat and crossed his arms while he pouted. Zayn shut the door after making sure he was buckled in and proceeded to get into the driver’s seat.

After he had started the car, he turned around to look at Niall. “If you stop pouting, I’ll give you Ty to play with on the way there,” he said. Niall’s face brightened a little bit as he reached out for the bear in Zayn’s hands. “Good boy,” Zayn said, handing the bear to the eager boy. Zayn turned the radio on to some soft rock station and hummed along thoughtlessly as he made his way to the doctor’s office.

A few minutes later, Zayn looked up into the rear view mirror to see Niall asleep with his face buried into his teddy bear’s head. He cooed at him, wishing he was always as sweet as he looked when he was sleeping. Niall’s powernap was cut short when Zayn pulled into the parking lot. He got out and opened the door for Niall who was rubbing his eyes with his fists.

“Come on, babe,” Zayn said quietly. Niall slowly slid out of the car with Ty still clutched in one hand. “Leave him in the car, love,” Zayn said, taking Ty from Niall and ignoring his whines of protest. The last thing they needed was the press asking questions about a stupid teddy bear, especially when Niall was still so nervous and sensitive. Zayn knew that it was hardest for Niall to process things when he had just woken up and that it was the time he was typically further in his “little” headspace.

Zayn put his hand on Niall’s lower back as he led him into the small building. Zayn whispered for Niall to go sit down in one of the chairs and went to the front desk to check Niall in for his appointment. Niall was sat in one of the chairs playing with his fingers and squirming as he waited for Zayn to come back. As soon as he did, Niall whimpered and leaned his head onto Zayn’s shoulder.

“What is it?” Zayn murmured.

“I need to go to the bathroom,” Niall whispered back to him.

“Okay, go ahead. I brought extra nappies along, love,” Zayn said.

“I can’t!” Niall panicked, but quieted down when he realized there were several people in the small waiting room. “There are people around,” he whimpered out quietly.

Zayn sighed, knowing that asking him to wet himself in such close proximity to strangers probably wasn’t very fair. He got up from his seat to go ask the receptionist how long it would be until the doctor would be ready, and Niall’s eyes welled up with tears. He didn’t know what to do or why Zayn had left, and his bladder was really starting to hurt.

Zayn came back, however, about two minutes later. He sat back down where he had before and began speaking gently to Niall. “She said there are a few people in front of you, so we have about ten minutes until we need to go back. If I let you go out to the car and change you there, will you be a good boy for me and go really quickly?” Niall nodded furiously, tears blurring his vision and threatening to leak out at any second. “Alright then, let’s go.”

Niall and Zayn both slid into the back seat of the black SUV with darkly tinted windows. Niall immediately grabbed Ty and held him to his chest, closing his eyes tightly as he began to wet himself. It was surprisingly getting easier and a little less voluntary, which scared Niall a lot. When he was finished, he looked at Zayn with glassy eyes and said, “Done.”

“Good job, Ni. Such a good boy for Baba, aren’t you?” Zayn cooed at him, brushing his blonde hair off his forehead. Niall shrugged, and Zayn smiled at him. “Lay down so I can change you, sweetheart.”

Niall awkwardly lay down across the back seats and waited patiently as Zayn changed him, fidgeting with his bear the entire time.

“Okay, all done,” Zayn said, patting his leg.

“Thank you,” Niall whispered barely audibly. Zayn just pulled him into his lap and cuddled him for a second.

“No, thank you. I think that if you’re this good for the doctor, we might have to get ice cream afterward,” Zayn said and grinned as Niall looked up happily.

“Really? From anywhere I want?” Niall asked with huge eyes.

Zayn chuckled and said, “Of course. But you have to be good, remember?”

“I know,” Niall replied.

“Okay. Then let’s get this over with,” Zayn said. He opened the door and let Niall climb off of his lap and out of the car before he got out as well.

As soon as they walked back in, there was a nurse standing in the doorway saying that it was Niall’s turn to go back. Zayn followed both of them back and sat in the indicated room as Niall got his height and weight taken. When that was over with, he sauntered back into the room and sat on the paper-covered examination table. He swung his legs from it as he waited while Zayn checked his phone, replying to a few messages and scrolling through twitter. They both sat in a comfortable silence, just waiting for the doctor to arrive.

When the doctor finally came in a few minutes later, Niall stopped swinging his legs and Zayn looked up from his phone.

“Good afternoon, gentlemen, how are you?” He asked kindly, shaking both of their hands. He sat down at the little desk and looked through the notes the nurse had made and said, “So you’re just here for a few shots then, Mr. Horan?”

Niall nodded silently, and Zayn jumped in to help. “Yeah, he’s quite nervous, sorry. Not a fan of needles and all that.”

“I see. Well, I’ll make sure it’s as quick as possible,” the doctor said reassuringly. He pulled on some disposable gloves and got out the syringe and needle that was needed for the first shot. Niall snapped his head up and looked at Zayn with panic in his eyes.

“Do you mind if I sit with him?” Zayn asked the doctor quietly.

The doctor looked up and raised his eyebrows but said, “No, not at all. Go ahead.”

Zayn sighed with relief and went to sit next to Niall. Niall promptly turned his head and buried his face into Zayn’s neck. Zayn rubbed his back as the doctor prepared to give him the first shot.

“It’s just a little pinch, it’ll only hurt for a second,” the doctor said kindly as he disinfected a small area on Niall’s arm. Niall whimpered as he felt the doctor inject the small needle into his arm. Zayn moved his hand up to play with the hairs on the back of Niall’s neck as he felt hot tears flow onto his neck.

“Alright, one more,” the doctor said, smiling at Zayn.

“No,” Niall cried quietly, and Zayn shushed him.

“You’re doing so well, Ni. I’m so proud of you. Now we’ll definitely go get ice cream. What flavor of ice cream are you going to get, hmm?” Zayn mumbled to him, trying to distract him from the doctor preparing another shot.

“Chocolate,” Niall said weakly against Zayn’s neck.

“That sounds delicious. I’ll let you get whatever toppings you want too as long as you don’t tell the other boys,” Zayn whispered in his ear. Niall giggled, but went silent when the doctor announced the second shot. He flinched and began crying quietly again, but otherwise made no fuss.

Zayn let out the breath he was holding when the doctor shook his hand and told them to take their time getting ready to go. He thanked him profusely and pulled Niall into his lap as soon as the doctor shut the door behind him. Niall rubbed his tear-soaked face into Zayn’s soft shirt.

“Thank you,” he mumbled. 

“For what, baby?” Zayn asked.

“For coming with me and not being mean because I’m scared of needles,” Niall said quietly.

“How could I be mean about one of your fears when I’m scared of water?” Zayn asked, kissing both of his cheeks. Niall giggled, and Zayn stood both of them up. He wiped the remaining tears off of Niall’s face and held his hand out to him. “Now let’s go get ice cream, shall we?”


	9. Chapter Nine

“I don’t want you to leave,” Niall whined to Liam as he watched him get ready for his day out.

“I’m just going out for the day, Niall, I’ll be home before you go to bed,” Liam told him for the fifth time that day.

Niall huffed and crossed his arms. It wasn’t fair that both Zayn and Liam had both decided to pick today to go out with their girlfriends, leaving Niall to stay at home with Louis and Harry.  
Liam shook his head at Niall before bending down to scoop him off the bed. “You’ll have plenty of fun with Dada and Papa. You did last time, remember?”

Niall did remember, but that didn’t mean he was any happier about not having Liam or Zayn around for the whole day. He was admittedly closest to Zayn and close behind him was Liam. Niall sighed and squirmed to be set down. Liam set him down in front of him, and Niall stomped on down the stairs by himself in a small act of defiance. Liam had to chuckle at his miniature tantrum and followed him down shortly after. When he got there, Harry was already trying to coax Niall into playing with some toys, but it was going nowhere. Niall wasn’t really into playing with toys or anything yet, so really they all just sat in the small storage container in the corner of the room collecting dust.

Liam walked over to where Niall was sitting on the floor and crouched down in front of him. “I’ll be back to say goodnight, remember?” Liam said, and Niall nodded briefly. “Okay. Have fun. And be good. I don’t want to hear about any bad behavior when I get home, got it?” Niall nodded again, this time looking down at his lap and picking at a string on his sweat pants. Liam smiled lightly and kissed his forehead before standing up and telling the other boys goodbye.

Not even five minutes later, Zayn came sauntering down into the living room. He spotted Niall in the middle of the floor, playing with his fingers and looking very lonely as Harry was in the kitchen making lunch and Louis was out running a few errands. He quietly walked over to Niall and sat down next to him. He smiled at Niall as he looked up at him and said, “What are you doing, love?”

Niall shrugged and looked back down, trying to make it clear that he wasn’t very happy with Zayn leaving. Zayn frowned and ran his fingers through Niall’s messy hair.

“Why don’t we go see what Papa’s making you for lunch? I’m about to leave, and you look rather lonely sitting here by yourself,” Zayn said, standing up and holding his hand out for Niall. Niall held both of his hands up instead, wanting Zayn to pick him up. Zayn smiled and complied with the silent request before heading into the kitchen.

“Hey, I’m almost done,” Harry said as he finished putting some macaroni and cheese and chicken nuggets on a plate for Niall and himself.

Zayn took that as a request to get Niall set up in his high chair, so he carried the boy to it and began to get him situated. Niall whined as he was buckled into the chair, but otherwise made no fuss. Zayn decided it would be best to say his goodbyes now before Niall got his food.

“Alright, I’m going to leave now. Be a good boy, okay?” Zayn said, kissing Niall’s cheek.

“I got it,” Niall grumbled, sick of hearing that he needed to be good.

“Okay. I love you,” Zayn said, kissing the top of Niall’s head this time.

“Love you, too,” Niall mumbled. Zayn stood up and ruffled his hair before walking out of the front door.

“Okay then,” Harry began. “What are we going to do today?” He asked, setting a plate of food in front of Niall. Niall didn’t answer and just started shoveling food into his mouth, so Harry kept talking. “Since it’s too cold outside to go out there, I thought we could maybe watch some Nemo and make some of that homemade hot chocolate that you love? How does that sound?”

Niall looked up from his food to smile brightly at Harry. “The hot cocoa with the chocolate sauce and whipped cream too?” Niall asked excitedly.

“That’s it,” Harry said, grinning at Niall’s excitement.

“Can we make it now?” Niall asked anxiously.

“Finish your lunch and then we’ll make it. Sound good?” Harry asked. Niall nodded and began to shove food into his mouth again. He finished quickly and pushed his plate away with a quick, “Done.”

Harry helped him down from the high chair and instructed him to get the chocolate sauce and chocolate chips from the pantry while he collected everything else they would need. Niall went over to the pantry to gather the items and then skipped back to where Harry was standing in front of the counter with his findings.

“Thank you, Ni,” Harry said, taking the chocolaty items from Niall.

Niall smiled widely as he watched Harry prepare everything. Harry’s hot cocoa was arguably one of his favorite drinks in the world, and he was getting more excited by the second. He decided to reach over Harry and grab the chocolate chips so that he could make the process go faster, but accidentally grabbed the opened bag upside down. He watched in horror as they scattered all over the counter, some landing on the floor.

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to,” Niall said, looking at Harry with wide eyes.

“You’re not in trouble, love. It’s just a few chocolate chips, and I know you didn’t do it on purpose,” Harry said, smiling at the boy.

Niall giggled, thankful that Harry didn’t make a big deal over messes. “Can I help? Please,” Niall begged, dragging out the word.

Harry nodded and handed him the chocolate sauce. Niall began hastily squirting it into the cup of milk meant for the hot cocoa. Harry sighed as he made more of a mess, but Niall’s giggles were enough to keep his inner clean freak at bay. When Niall was finally done, Harry added the small amount of powdered chocolate they had needed and put the cup in the microwave. When it was done, he carefully removed the now-hot drink and put it on the counter. He picked up the whipped cream and shook it, preparing to spray it on top.

“Papa, I want to do it!” Niall whined, bouncing up and down.

“What do you say?” Harry said, still holding it over the drink.

“Please can I do it?” Niall asked. Harry smiled at him and handed it over, cringing as Niall sprayed entirely too much white cream on the top. Niall squealed in excitement when he was done. “Can I drink it now?”

“I suppose so,” Harry said, grinning at the excited boy. Niall picked up the hot cocoa and started to drink it. “Is it good?” Harry asked.

“Yeah, you wanna try?” Niall asked holding it out to Harry.

“No thanks, babe. It’s all yours,” Harry said, watching Niall happily drink the liquid.

“I’m going to go upstairs and use the bathroom and change clothes, okay, love?” Harry said, already leaving the kitchen.

Niall nodded in response, still drinking. He soon finished, though, and looked around for something to do. He spotted the mess on the other side of the kitchen and decided to make Harry happy by cleaning it up. He smiled to himself about his plan and proceeded to start to clean up.

Meanwhile, Louis had just walked into the house and heard no noise from anywhere but the kitchen. He walked to the doorway of the kitchen, stopping when he saw Niall alone and surrounded by various forms of chocolate.

“What in the world are you doing?” Louis said loudly.

Niall jumped, startled by Louis’ loud voice. He also managed to drop the chocolate powder in his hands, gasping when it all fell to the floor.

“Sorry! I’m sorry!” Niall said, standing in the middle of the bigger mess he had created as tears pricked in his eyes.

“Why are you in the kitchen making this mess alone?” Louis asked him.

“I didn’t mean to,” Niall whimpered.

Louis stomped over to him and pulled him out of the mess, landing quick swats on his thighs. Niall whimpered, trying to get away from Louis’ harsh smacks. Louis pulled him closer, and pulled Niall’s pants down. At the same time, he undid Niall’s nappy and let it fall, quickly continuing to spank him.

“You’re not to be in the kitchen alone, let alone making a huge mess!” Louis lectured him, and Niall wailed. This was his first real spanking and it was because of an accident. Harry had said it was no big deal, but he didn’t know how to tell Louis that.

Louis stopped after a minute and bent down to re-tape the nappy around Niall’s hips and pull up his pants. Niall covered his face with his hands and sobbed, wishing his Baba or Daddy or even Papa was there to love him.

“Now go sit in timeout while I clean up your mess,” Louis said, pointing to the chair in the corner of the room.

Niall cried and stumbled over to the chair, sitting down on his sore bottom. He was starting to hyperventilate, and he really just needed Harry to come back. He slipped his fingers in his mouth to suck on, both to try to muffle his cries and for comfort.

Harry gasped when he walked into the kitchen; first at the mess that seemed to be bigger than he remembered; then at the fact Louis had gotten home without him knowing; and finally, at Niall sobbing his heart out in the corner. He almost had to do a double take on the entire situation, because honestly, he wasn’t gone for more than five or six minutes and all of this happened?

“What the hell happened?” Harry asked, shocked.

“I walked in here, and Niall was in here by himself making a mess,” Louis said, going back to sweeping up the floor and grumbling to himself.

“And what did you do?” Harry asked hesitantly.

“I spanked him and sent him to timeout. He knows better,” Louis said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Niall’s sobs got impossibly louder at this, and Harry’s face turned red with anger.

“Louis, you idiot!” Harry exclaimed, not being able to come up with anything better at the time. He quickly walked over to Niall and picked him up, walking into the living room to get away from Louis. Louis just stood with a confused look on his face, still not having put the pieces together.

“Niall, Niall, darling,” Harry cooed softly to him as Niall clung to Harry. His arms were wound tightly around Harry’s neck, similarly to how his legs were wrapped around Harry’s waist, and his head was buried into Harry’s shoulder. His cries still hadn’t quietened, and Harry began to wonder just how hard Louis had spanked Niall.

“Dada hates me,” Niall choked out through his sobs.

“Sh, sh, shhh,” Harry tried to hush Niall as he lightly bounced him on his hip. He felt Niall’s nappy grow warmer and heavier and immediately began to go to Niall’s nursery to change him. “I promise he doesn’t hate you. Lovey, you’re alright. Everything is okay, you’re not in trouble, shh,” Harry continued soothing him.

“Sorry,” Niall sobbed into his shoulder.

“You didn’t do anything wrong, sweetheart,” Harry said, laying Niall down on the changing table.

“Ty,” Niall whimpered.

“Of course, baby. I’ll get him,” Harry said, going to the crib and grabbing it out. He gently placed it in Niall’s arms and watched as he hugged the bear to his chest.

Harry changed Niall quickly, wincing at the scattering of red handprints across Niall’s thighs and bum.   
“Oh, love,” Harry mumbled, rubbing some soothing rash cream on the red marks.

Niall was still crying, but had calmed down considerably since he got to cuddle his bear. Harry picked him back up and carried him back to the kitchen. Louis looked up as they walked in, and Harry gave him a hard look, not wanting him to say anything to upset Niall after he’d just calmed down. He got into the fridge and pulled out an already-made bottle of milk, popping it into the microwave and swaying Niall in his arms. As soon as it was done, he took it out and shook it as they went back to Niall’s room together.

“Do you want to tell me what happened?” Harry asked as he sat down, situating Niall in his lap.

Niall sniffled and told Harry exactly what had happened. Harry’s anger and frustration with Louis only grew as he rocked Niall back and forth.

“Alright, love. Thank you for telling me,” Harry smiled at him and slid the bottle between his lips. Niall relaxed and shut his eyes as he drank. His breathing evened out, and he began to nod off. When he was finished with the bottle, Harry stood up and placed Niall in the crib gently. Niall whined at being put down, but Harry shushed him. “It’s time for your nap now anyway, baby. Go to sleep, you’re tired.”

Niall didn’t protest anymore and rolled over, still hugging his bear to his chest. Harry walked over to the window and shut the blinds before silently slipping out of the room.

When Harry got downstairs, it wasn’t quite so peaceful.

“What the actual fuck, Louis?” Harry yelled at him as soon as he got around the corner.

“Will you please explain to me why you’re so upset because when I asked Niall what happened, he only said he didn’t mean it. Sorry for thinking that meant he was up to something mischievous,” Louis said defensively.

“Maybe you should ask a few more questions before jumping to conclusions. I swear to God, maybe you should be the one in diapers,” Harry said angrily.

Louis rolled his eyes. “You know I would never hurt him. It was a bad judgment call, and I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, try telling that to him. He’s devastated. Just as soon as we got him to trust all of us, you had to go screw it all up,” Harry said bitterly.

Louis’ face fell slightly at that because he had screwed up. Now he knew he had to find a way to make it up to him.

Niall woke up about two hours later. He sat up in his crib and decided to sit by himself for a while. He allowed himself to actually play with his stuffed animals that were in his crib, making little noises as he played. It was actually nice to play and to use his imagination. He missed being little and being able to think anything was possible.

Louis heard the noises Niall was making through the baby monitor they had put in his room when he decided he didn’t want to call for them when he wanted out of his crib. He decided that now was probably the best time he would get to make up with Niall as Harry had just gotten in the shower, and Liam and Zayn weren’t due back for at least a few hours still. He made his way to the nursery and quietly opened the door. The sight in front of him had to be one of the most adorable things he’d ever seen.

Niall was sat up in his crib making a few of the stuffed animals he had lying in his crib dance around on the bed in front of him. Along with their movements, he made little noises for them. Louis couldn’t stop smiling at Niall’s cuteness. All the while, Niall had no idea that Louis was standing there watching him. As soon as he saw Louis, he dropped the animals in his hands and scooted back against the back of the crib.

"Sorry," Niall squeaked out.

Louis sighed. “No, love, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have assumed you were being naughty so soon.”

Niall’s eyes filled with tears as he looked at Louis. Louis couldn’t take it anymore and went to get Niall out of the crib. He picked him up and walked around the room with him, whispering things into his ear. He carried Niall to his own room and laid down on the bed with him cuddled into his side.

"Can we watch Nemo now, Dada?" Niall mumbled into Louis’ neck.

"Sure, sweetheart," Louis said, getting up to retrieve the movie. He put it in the DVD player and went to go lay down next to Niall again.

"I’m so so so sorry about today, Ni. It will never happen again," Louis said earnestly.

"It’s okay," Niall said quietly.

"It’s not. But thank you," Louis said. "I love you, Niall."

Niall laid his head on Louis’ chest, smiling. “I love you, too.”


	10. Chapter Ten

It was three days until Christmas, and the boys were on another break of about two weeks after finishing all of the promo for the new album. This also meant that all of them were going home to their own families for the holiday. All of them were obviously excited as they didn’t get a lot of time to go home, but no one was as elated as Niall. Since he couldn’t just simply take a train to get home, he had gone the longest without seeing his family; the last time he’d seen his friends was before this whole… situation was put into action.  
So, Niall had packed everything with him, including all of the presents he was going to give everyone back home. Now he was sat in the living room with his suitcase in front of him, bouncing eagerly on the couch a whole two hours before he would even need to arrive at the airport. Liam was going to be taking him so that Niall wouldn’t have to park his car at the airport for so long and to ensure that everything went smoothly.

"Ni, do you want to have some lunch before you leave?" Louis asked him from the doorway to the kitchen. Niall just shrugged, looking at the time anxiously. "I think you should have some so you’re not hungry on the plane, yeah?" Louis said, walking over to pick Niall up from the couch. Niall whined and squirmed, too hyper to be carried. Louis sighed and set him down, watching Niall bounce into the kitchen.

"Daddy, when can we leave?" Niall asked, hanging off of Liam’s arm.

"Your flight doesn’t leave for nearly four more hours, love," Liam replied.

"But what if we’re late?" Niall pressed.

"We’re not going to be four hours late. The airport is only thirty minutes away, silly," Liam said, scooping him up and setting him in the high chair. "I’ll tell you what, if you sit and eat your lunch like a good boy, we can go a little early and do some shopping at the airport, how’s that?"

Niall nodded eagerly and immediately dug into his food. Liam chuckled at him and began to eat his own food. Niall was done eating about ten minutes later, so Liam took him out of the high chair. He looked at what Niall was wearing and said, “Don’t you want to change into something comfier for your plane ride?”

Niall considered it for a second and then nodded. Liam smiled at him and led him to his room to get changed. Liam pulled out some sweatpants and a hoodie and held them up for Niall’s approval. He nodded again, allowing Liam to help take off his jeans. Niall stopped him when he realized he was still wearing a nappy.

"No nappy?" Niall asked with big eyes.

"I reckon you won’t have anyone to change you, will you?" Liam said contemplatively. Niall shook his head quickly. "Yeah, go ahead and get some boxers, then." Niall was quick to do just that, afraid Liam might change his mind if he didn’t.

Soon enough, Niall was ready to go and the only thing left to do was to say goodbye to the others. Even though Niall was eager to get back home and he missed his family, he knew he would still miss the other boys while he was gone.

"Bye, babe," Louis said, hugging Niall and kissing his head a few times. "Have fun. I love you," Louis said with one final kiss to his head.

"Love you, too," Niall said, skipping over to Harry already.

Harry just hugged him for a minute before saying, “Be safe. Try not to get into trouble.”

"I won’t get in trouble," Niall pouted.

Harry laughed and kissed his nose. “I’m going to miss you.”

"Me too," Niall mumbled into Harry’s shirt.

Harry understood and rubbed Niall’s back before sending him off toward Zayn.

"Be good. Have fun. Be safe. You’ve heard it all, yeah?" Zayn said jokingly, tickling Niall’s sides. Niall giggled, swatting his hands away. "Alright, babe. I love you. Do you promise to call me?"

"Yes," Niall giggled.

"Okay. Have a good holiday then," Zayn said, kissing Niall’s cheek and sending him off.

"Be back in a few hours," Liam said over his shoulder to the other boys.

They all voiced their agreement and then set off to go pack their own bags.

The car ride to the airport was peaceful enough. Niall spoke excitedly about all of the things he planned to do when he got to Ireland and how he’d looked at the weather and saw that snow was coming in, and that meant he could play in it and go sledding. Liam smiled as he talked, enjoying how happy Niall seemed to be.

When they arrived at the airport, Liam helped Niall with his suitcase and walked him through to collect his boarding pass. Liam thought that his job of making sure the whole ordeal went well was completed, but he was so wrong.

"Um, excuse me sir?" The girl standing behind the counter said hesitantly. Liam and Niall just looked up at her, waiting her to continue. "It seems that this flight has been cancelled."

"Ugh. What’s the next available one?" Niall asked, having been through the procedure of flying way too many times to be surprised.

"Actually, I don’t know. All flights to Dublin have been cancelled for the next two days at the least because of the big storm going through. I can maybe get you on a flight the day after Christmas at the earliest," the girl said regretfully.

Liam noticed Niall’s slightly deflated demeanor and jumped in to help. “There has to be another way. Are there not any other airlines that have flights?”

"There really aren’t. Not to be rude but have you seen the massive winter storm going through?" The girl asked.

"No. You really don’t understand, he hasn’t been home in months, and it’s Christmas," Liam said, starting to get a little desperate. Niall had fallen silent beside him, looking down at his feet and kicking his toe into the ground softly.

"I’m really sorry, sir. I’ll put him on the waiting list for all of the airlines and have someone call as soon as there’s a flight," the girl said, stopping to answer the phone that had been ringing and violently typing something into the computer.

Liam sighed and looked to Niall. “I’m sorry, love. I don’t know what else to do.”

Niall shrugged and sniffled quietly, grabbing his suitcase and dragging it behind him, keeping his eyes on the floor. Liam quickly followed after him. He had no idea what to say to make it better, but he knew he had to try.

They were soon back at the car, and Niall shoved his suitcase into the back, getting into the passenger seat and slamming the door behind him. Liam watched him forlornly, knowing how upset he was. He got into the car and started it before driving out. Niall put his hood up, leaning against the window and shutting his eyes.

They sat in silence for a few moments before Liam said, “You can always come with me to Wolverhampton for Christmas. You know how much my family would love to have you there,” Liam said softly.

"Not the same," Niall said, his voice cracking on the last word.

Liam’s heart broke a little at the sound. He put a hand on Niall’s knee as he drove. “I know it’s not, love.”

The car ride back to their house was uncomfortably silent and miserable and filled with Niall’s sniffles. Niall just wished that Ty wasn’t buried so far into his suitcase so that he could have something to cuddle while Daddy was driving. It seemed to be taking so much longer to get home than it had to get to the airport.

When they got back to the house, Niall slowly got out of the car, and Liam got his suitcase for him. They walked to the front door, and Liam unlocked it before gently pushing Niall into the house.

"Li?" Zayn called from the living room when he heard the door open. When no one answered back, he stood up to see what was going on. He sauntered to the foyer and stopped when he saw Niall.

"Oh, hey, love, did you forget something?" Zayn asked. Niall just looked up at him with tear-filled eyes before bolting out of the room and upstairs. Liam sighed heavily before throwing himself onto the couch. "Wait, what happened?" Zayn asked, furrowing his eyebrows together in confusion.

"All flights to Ireland have been cancelled because of some huge winter storm. They said the earliest they could get him on a flight is the day after Christmas, and he’s very upset. God, this is supposed to be when I make everything better, but I can’t this time. I tried everything to make sure there was no other way to get him there," Liam said exasperatedly.

Zayn’s heart broke for Niall at the news. They all knew how excited Niall had been, and he knew that he had to be crushed. “Well he can come home with me I’m sure. Any of our families would be happy to have him.”

"I told him that, and he just got more upset," Liam said sadly.

"I think I’m going to go talk to him," Zayn said before starting up the stairs, taking them two at a time. "Niall, darling?" Zayn called as he opened his door.

Niall was laid across the floor hugging a random stuffed animal to his chest as he stared blankly at the wall in front of him. “Come here baby,” Zayn said, already on his way to pick Niall up. He scooped Niall into his arms and Niall clung to him silently as he tried not to cry. “Why don’t we go talk with Daddy, hmm?” Zayn asked as he bounced Niall lightly. He didn’t get a response so he just headed down the the living room anyway where Liam was still sprawled out on the couch. Zayn sat down with Niall on his lap and looked to Liam for assistance in starting the conversation.

"Do you want to go with me or Baba for Christmas, love? I promise you won’t hurt either of our feelings," Liam asked.

"I’m just staying here," Niall mumbled into Zayn’s shirt.

"Sorry, babe, that wasn’t one of your choices," Zayn said.

"I just want to stay home," Niall whined.

"We’re aware. But there’s no way any of us would allow you to be all alone especially for Christmas," Zayn said patiently. "So what’s your choice?"

"Daddy," Niall said quietly after a few minutes of hesitation.

"Okay," Zayn said, kissing the top of Niall’s head. "I promised my sisters I’d be there today, so I really need to get going," he continued.

"Go ahead. We’re fine here. We’ll be leaving soon anyway I suppose," Liam said.

Zayn kissed Niall’s face a few more times before handing the forlorn boy over to Liam. As soon as he was gone, Niall put his head on Liam’s shoulder and began to fall asleep. Just as he had dozed off, Liam stood up with him and began walking out to the car. Niall whined as Liam set him down in the back seat, trying his hardest not to let go of Liam.

"Shh, you can have a nap on the way. Do you need anything for our trip? It’s a pretty long drive," Liam said, stroking hair off of Niall’s face.

"Ty?" Niall mumbled shyly.

"Of course," Liam said, smiling at him. "Where is he?"

"My suitcase," Niall replied.

"Okay. I’m just going to run and get our suitcases, and then I’ll be right back," Liam said, waiting for Niall to nod before leaving.

While he was searching for Niall’s bear, he decided to call his mum to let her know that he was bringing Niall along. He knew that no one would mind; everyone loves Niall. He picked up both suitcases when he was done and went to put them in the car. By the time he got there, Niall was already nodding off. He placed the teddy bear in Niall’s arms and watched as his arms wound tightly around it. And with that, Liam got into the front seat and began the trip home.

"Niall," Liam said gently as he stood next to him. "Niall, love. We’re here," Liam cooed at him as he opened his eyes. Niall looked around groggily, not quite fully awake. He couldn’t believe he had slept the entire way to Wolverhampton; it was a far drive, but Liam reckoned that Niall had needed it after having a stressful afternoon. "Do you want to go in and get settled?" Liam asked.

Niall just shrugged, setting Ty on the seat next to him as he climbed out of the car, ignoring Liam as he tried to help him. Liam sighed, grabbing Ty and hoping that Niall’s mood would wear off soon. They both hauled their suitcases out of the back and headed into the house. Liam opened the door for both of them as he announced that they were walking in. His parents and sisters were immediately at the front door to greet them. Understandably, they were more focused on Liam, but that didn’t make Niall any less upset. Niall huffed, and suddenly Liam’s mum was looking up at him as Liam gave him a stern look.

"Well, hello Niall! I’m so glad you decided to join us! It’s so lovely to see you," she said enthusiastically.

"I didn’t decide anything," Niall muttered.

There was a brief beat of silence before Liam said, “Alright, well I think we’re going to just take our bags upstairs.”

Niall huffed again but dragged his suitcase along behind him as he followed Liam to his room. As soon as they were there, Liam turned to Niall and said, “I think maybe we need to put your nappy back on.”

Niall’s face turned red with embarrassment and anger. “No! That’s not fair!”

Liam raised his eyebrows at him. “I think it seems plenty fair. I know that you’re upset, but that doesn’t give you any excuse to be rude. Or maybe you need a spanking before?” Liam lectured sternly, but he knew it was an empty threat.

Niall shook his head as tears of frustration flooded his eyes. He laid down on the floor in front of Liam since there was no changing table and covered his face as he waited. Liam stripped off his boxers and sweat pants before quickly replacing them with a nappy. He picked Niall up off of the floor and set him on the bed.

"Now I think you need a few minutes to calm down. I’ll be back soon, and when I am I expect you to be nicer. Understood?" Liam asked. He hated to have to be strict right now, but he wasn’t about to watch Niall pout for days. Niall nodded, looking down at his lap and playing with his fingers. "Good boy," Liam said, kissing his cheek.

Liam took a deep breath and went to see his family again.

"Did you get all settled?" His mum asked him.

"Yeah, mostly," Liam said. "I’m sorry about Niall. He’s just still really upset about not being able to go home and he just woke up and -"

"Liam, we all completely understand," she cut him off. "You sound like his dad or something," she laughed.

Liam cringed but tried to laugh with her. A few minutes later he told her he was going to go check on Niall. When he walked into his room, he regretted ever leaving Niall by himself when he was upset. He was laying on the bed curled up on his side and sucking on his fingers as tears dripped down his face and his body shook with muffled sobs.

"Baby," Liam said softly. Niall looked up at him pitifully and raised one arm, keeping one down to leave his fingers in his mouth. Liam understood and picked him up, pacing around the room with Niall in his arms. "Do you want to tell me why you’re so sad?" Liam asked.

"I’m sorry," Niall wailed around his fingers.

"I know, I know. Shh, love. It’s alright. You’re alright," Liam soothed him.

Niall was slowly calming down and catching his breath. When it seemed to be about as good as it could get, Liam sat down with Niall on his lap and rocked him for a few minutes.

"It’s okay to be upset, Ni. And I know you would never purposely hurt anyone’s feelings because you’re too sweet. And I promise I’ll call the airport every day, twice a day to make sure you get on the first available flight, yeah?" Liam said gently.

Niall nodded into Liam’s shoulder, content to stay with Liam for the time being.

After three days of Liam’s incessant calling of the airport turned out to be fruitless, they got a call on Christmas day after they had finished having Christmas dinner. Liam excused himself to answer the phone and came back minutes later with a mile-wide grin.

"Guess who that was?" Liam said excitedly. Niall shrugged, completely forgetting about the situation as he stuffed himself with food. "The airline! They said there’s a flight open tomorrow at five in the morning!" Liam said.

Niall looked up at him with the biggest smile Liam had seen on him in forever. He jumped up and into Liam’s arms before running to pack up his suitcase. Maybe he didn’t get to see his family on Christmas like he’d hoped, but all that really mattered to him was that he got to go, and it was all because his Daddy cared enough about him to make sure he could. Niall ran back out of the room and into a surprised Liam.

"Thank you," Niall said, rubbing his face into Liam’s shirt. "I love you, Daddy."

"I love you more," Liam said, hugging Niall tighter.

And maybe it didn’t all work out exactly the way it was supposed to, but to Niall it was the best Christmas ever.


	11. Chapter Eleven

“You know how Niall won’t play with any toys?” Louis asked conversationally one day a little more than a week after Christmas.

Zayn shrugged. “Yeah, I guess. Why?”  
“I don’t know. It just seems like every time I get him up from his nap he’s playing with some of the toys in his crib until he notices me standing in the room, and he stops. Have you noticed?” Louis asks.

“No, not really,” Zayn says slowly, thinking. “But why do you think that is?”

“It’s just like everything else. He’s just embarrassed about it,” Louis said.

“It’s just so strange that all of this started… what, almost three months ago? And it seems like he’s still kicking and screaming through everything,” Zayn said, throwing his head back.

Their conversation is interrupted by the sounds of mumbling and rustling noises coming from the baby monitor on the side table. Louis looked at the little machine for a second before standing up and saying, “I’ll get him.” Zayn nodded and went back to reading his book.

Louis walked up the stairs and opened the door to Niall’s room silently to try to catch the boy playing again. When he did, he had to keep himself from cooing at him. He really was adorable, and he wished Niall would be less shy. Louis knew it would all take time, though, and he was willing to put in the work to make Niall come out of his shell.

After a few moments, he made his presence known by saying, “Hey, sleepyhead. Did you have a nice nap?”

Niall looked up with a shocked look on his face and frantically pushed his stuffed toys behind him. He nodded slowly as he watched Louis walk toward him with a smile on his face. Louis opened the crib and picked Niall up out of it.

“Do you need a change, love?” Louis asked, sticking his fingers into the leg of Niall’s nappy before Niall had a chance to respond. Niall blushed a dark red and tried squirming away from Louis but was just laid on the changing table. “Why don’t you yell for one of us when you wake up and need a change, hmm?” Louis asked, getting out a fresh nappy and some powder.

Niall shrugged and avoided looking into Louis’ eyes. He didn’t want to tell him that it was because the only time he really had to himself was after he had woken up, so that was when he wanted to play. Or that he was just so embarrassed that he now unknowingly wet himself in his sleep.

Louis sighed, clearly not getting the response he was looking for. Niall chewed on his bottom lip hoping that Louis would finish changing him soon. Niall got his wish and Louis was soon helping him down from the table and leading him downstairs after stopping to hand Niall his beloved teddy bear.

Niall shook his hand out of Louis’ grasp as soon as they reached the bottom step and went to go snuggle up next to Zayn on the couch. The time after his nap was supposed to be play time according to the schedule but seeing as Niall “didn’t like” playing with toys, the other boys settled on it being an hour or two of free time for Niall to watch TV or whatever else. Zayn kissed Niall’s head to acknowledge his presence but mostly ignored him after that, too sucked in to reading his book. Niall pouted at this and slid off of the couch and onto the floor. He held Ty at arm’s length and just stared at the bear. Louis watched from the other side of the room, coming up with a plan in his head.

After several minutes of waiting for Niall to do something besides stare into space, Louis turned and walked to the storage box that had been designated as the toy box and was full of all sorts of things they’d gotten Niall in the hope that he’d want to do something besides watch movies or TV and cuddle. He pulled out a tub of Legos and walked over to where Niall was seated on the floor. He plopped down next to him and poured out the tub of Legos in front of Niall. Niall stared at them wide-eyed, not really sure what to do. He wasn’t sure what Louis was getting at, but it made him nervous for some reason.

“Come on Ni, build something with me,” Louis said, picking up a few odd pieces and sticking them together.

“No thanks,” Niall said, scooting away.

“Why not?” Louis asked curiously. “It’s a lot more fun than staring at the wall.”

Niall just shook his head, ignoring the urge to pick up the Legos. He had already given into nappies and a crib and bottles and even a teddy bear; the last thing he needed was to give up his last attachment to adulthood while he was “little.” He looked down and pulled nervously at Ty’s fur.

Louis looked at him strangely but shrugged. “Alright. If that’s what you want. I guess I’ll play all by myself.”

Zayn, who had been watching the scene with curiosity, put his book down. “Do you want to come sit with me, love?” He asked, holding his arms open for him. Niall nodded rapidly and stood up, almost running to Zayn. Louis turned and glared at him for ruining his plan, but Zayn just rolled his eyes. Louis sometimes forgot that they needed to take baby steps with Niall when introducing him to new things. Zayn held Niall to his chest as Louis huffed and walked out of the room, leaving the Legos scattered across the floor, and already brainstorming a new plan that Zayn couldn’t intervene in.

“Zayn, you have to let me do this! It’s weird that he just doesn’t do anything. He used to be more playful before we started this!” Louis said, becoming thoroughly annoyed with how protective Zayn was being.

“No way. Too many of your plans have ended in him in tears, and this isn’t worth it,” Zayn said, not allowing Louis to sway him.

Louis groaned. “What is so scary about playing with toys?”

“I don’t know. Why don’t you ask him instead of forcing things on him?” Zayn said, raising an eyebrow at Louis. He felt torn because he was glad that Louis felt passionate about something that had to do with Niall, but at the same time he just wanted him to drop it because things seemed to be fine the way they were.

“Fine, I will,” Louis said, turning on his heel to go to Niall’s room where he was “resting” by himself. Louis walked in abruptly and frightened Niall who was lying on the floor on his stomach and playing with a few of his stuffed toys again. Niall gasped and sat up quickly, hugging Ty to his chest and kicking the others away.

“Hi, love,” Louis said brightly, acting like he hadn’t seen anything. “Whatcha doing?” Niall just stared at him, and Louis sighed. “Alright, fine. Why don’t you come sit with me, hmm?” Louis asked, picking him up and putting him on his lap in the rocking chair. “So,” he started, rocking slowly. “Why don’t you want to play with any of the awesome toys you have?” He asked, jumping straight into the question. Louis wasn’t one for talking around the subject, which sometimes got him in trouble when he came across as being impetuous.

Niall stiffened and shrugged. “Can you talk to me, please?” Louis asked kindly.

“Yeah,” Niall said.

“Good. Now I’m not going to walk around anything; I know that you like to play with your animals when we’re not around, right?” Louis asked.

“I guess,” Niall said quietly.

“Okay. So why don’t you want to when one of us are with you?” Louis asked, still rocking.

“I don’t know. Just don’t,” Niall said.

“Hmm. I don’t believe you,” Louis hummed.

“Sorry,” Niall mumbled.

“Why are you sorry?” Louis asked, pulling back to look at Niall’s face.

“It’s hard,” Niall said after a few moments of silence, looking down and avoiding Louis.

“What’s hard?” Louis asked, concerned. “Talk to me, babe.”

“To just like… give in to something. Like I just don’t do well with things that I choose and make me actually seem like, you know, the baby,” Niall said, picking at his fingers.

Louis frowned and put a finger underneath Niall’s chin to lock eyes with him. “Niall, love. We don’t think any less of you for anything. For the first time in months, you’re Niall again; we all missed him a lot. I’ve lost count of how many times someone has said this, but we’re only doing any of this because we love you. You know that, right?”

Niall nodded and blinked rapidly as tears filled his eyes.

“Good boy,” Louis mumbled, smiling at him. “I’m only interested in the current topic because I don’t want you to be so bored. It can’t be fun watching so much TV, and I think you’ve watched every movie we own twice,” he said with a grin. “And it’s also because I want someone to play with, too,” Louis whispered, tickling Niall’s sides. Niall giggled and leaned away from Louis only to be crushed back into his chest. “So do you want to give it another go?”

“Can I bring my animals?” Niall asked softly.

“Of course. The more the merrier and all that,” Louis said, setting him down to let him gather his toys up.

Niall quickly snatched three or four stuffed animals off the floor and turned back around to look at Louis. “I’m done,” he announced.

Louis smiled and led him downstairs to where the Legos and blocks were still in a pile on the floor in front of the couch. Niall stood hesitantly in the doorway, biting his lip nervously as Louis sat down on the floor.

Louis looked up at him and patted the floor next to him. “Come and play then,” Louis said. Niall nodded and sat down, silently putting pieces together.

Fifteen minutes later, Zayn walked out of the kitchen to the sounds of Niall’s loud laughter echoing through the house. He smiled warmly at the sight of Niall sitting in Louis’ lap and building a tower that his other toys were strategically placed on. He leaned against the doorframe, just watching the two of them together.

Liam and Harry returned from their full day of errands around the same time. Liam’s face at the sight of Niall playing and laughing with Louis was one of complete shock. In a matter of hours, Louis had gotten Niall to open up just a little bit more, and it meant a lot to all of them.

“Daddy!” Niall said, still not moving from his position on top of Louis. “Do you wanna play?” he asked excitedly.

“Well, I thought you’d never ask,” Liam said, chuckling. “What are you playing?”

“I dunno. It’s fun though. Right, Dada?” Niall said, not looking away from the toys in front of him. Louis just smiled and kissed the side of his head, smirking at Zayn at his victory.

“Told you so,” he mouthed to Zayn over Niall’s head. Zayn just smiled and shook his head because really, he was the one that told Louis so, but he’d let Louis win this time.


	12. Chapter Twelve

5:00 AM came entirely too early for Liam’s taste. He smacked the button of the obnoxiously loud alarm clock on the small table next to him and groaned as he realized that their holiday break was now over and it was time to start tour rehearsals. He rubbed his face and sat up, trying to avoid thinking about all of the things that could go wrong today. Niall had been on his best behavior lately, but that didn’t mean today couldn’t be different.  
Liam finally stood up out of bed when he heard someone else walking down the hallway. He began getting dressed and then got everything together that he would need for the day. He walked down into the kitchen to see Zayn and Harry nearly asleep at the table while Louis cursed over the breakfast he was currently cooking (burning).

“Morning lads,” Liam said, breaking the morning silence as he poured himself a cup of coffee.

“Morning,” they all mumbled back.

“Anyone gotten Niall yet?” Liam asked, turning and leaning against the counter. 

“I wanted to let him sleep as long as possible,” Zayn said. “I’ve already packed him some breakfast and a bag of everything he should need today.”

Liam nodded and drank down the rest of his luke-warm coffee. He looked at the clock on the wall and said, “We need to leave in ten minutes. I suppose I should get him up.”

Liam put his cup in the sink and sauntered to Niall’s room. He walked in and immediately felt guilty for having to wake him up so early; he looked so peaceful asleep with one arm curled tightly around his teddy bear and his thumb shoved in his mouth. None of them were really sure when the whole thumb-sucking thing had started, but all of them except Harry (who insisted that it was germy and would ruin his recently-perfected teeth) thought it was incredibly cute.

Liam sighed as he pulled himself out of his thoughts. He silently opened the side of the crib and picked Niall up out of it. Niall began to stir as Liam carried him over to the changing table, but otherwise showed no signs of waking up. Liam unzipped his one piece and untapped his nappy to change him. Only after Liam had replaced the wet nappy with a clean one and had taken Niall’s pajamas off did he wake up.

“Daddy, cold,” Niall whined, rubbing his eyes and trying to sit up.

“Shh, I know. Lay down, I’m going to get you some clothes,” Liam said quietly, pushing Niall’s chest down so that he was lying back on the table. 

Niall obeyed and soon enough, Liam returned with some sweatpants and a t-shirt. He figured Niall would be sleeping most of the ride, and it was pointless for him to wear jeans and be uncomfortable until they got there. He quickly put Niall into the clothes, realizing that they had three minutes until their driver would be there. He picked Niall up and made sure to grab his teddy bear, a blanket and an extra pair of jeans for him before leaving the room.

Niall cuddled into Liam’s neck and breathed deeply as he fell back asleep to the gentle rocking of Liam’s steps.

“Alright, we’re ready,” Liam said, stopping in the kitchen and swaying with Niall in his arms.

Harry smiled and took the other things Liam was holding to put them in the bag Zayn had packed for Niall. Liam shut his eyes and rested his cheek against the top of Niall’s head as they waited for their driver to arrive. As expected, he arrived and was knocking on the door right on time at 5:30. They all walked outside, feeling a little more awake as they breathed in the fresh air. Zayn and Louis climbed into the back of the car while Liam set Niall down in the middle and Harry slid in next to them. Niall woke up immediately at being set down on the cold leather seats and looked around the car warily. 

“Good morning, lovely,” Harry said, smoothing some hair out of Niall’s face. Niall yawned and tried to climb onto Liam’s lap because he was more comfortable than the seat of the car.

“No, Niall,” Liam said pushing him back down, and Niall whined. “You need to wear a seatbelt. It’s not safe to be sitting on top of me in the car.”

Niall’s eyes filled with tears, and Liam almost rolled his eyes, but Zayn was already handing up Niall’s blanket, bottle, and Ty. Liam tried giving the items to Niall, but he just pushed them away and crossed his arms.

“You don’t want Ty?” Liam asked, still holding the bear out for Niall. Niall shook his head defiantly. “Okay then. You have to drink your bottle though.”

“No, don’t want it,” Niall huffed.

“I didn’t ask if you wanted it, did I?” Liam asked, raising his eyebrows. It was entirely too early in the morning to be dealing with a defiant, moody Niall, and he was determined to get obedient, sweet Niall back before they reached the studio. The rest of the boys watched on as they usually did when Liam was handling Niall. Liam was Daddy in every since of the word; he was the strict one that was always enforcing the rules and handing out punishments and just being a general hard ass, but he also knew Niall better than any of the others, and when Niall wasn’t angry at him for being “mean,” he was probably the favorite. 

Everyone watched as Niall stared back at Liam, not budging to take the bottle from Liam. He turned his head and decided to try climbing onto Harry’s lap because Harry was nicer than Liam.

“Niall, no. What did Daddy just say?” Harry said sternly, putting Niall back in his seat.

Liam actually did roll his eyes this time. “I would really like to have a pleasant day, Niall. It’s early, and I know you’re tired because the rest of us are too. Drink your bottle like I told you to, and then you’ll rest afterward. Understood?” Liam lectured him quietly.

Niall glared at him but agreed anyway, snatching the bottle out of Liam’s hands and sucking it down quickly. He finished in record time and shoved the empty bottle into Liam’s hands. Liam shook his head and covered him with the blanket he still had. Niall held out his hands expectantly for his teddy bear and Liam ignored him, wanting him to be a little more polite.

“Give me,” Niall almost yelled, becoming frustrated. 

“Hey,” Liam snapped at him. “Do not yell at me. And you need to learn to use your manners. I know you have them.” Niall still wasn’t giving in, so Liam said, “Okay, I’ll just give him back to Baba to hold onto for the day, then.” He handed the bear back across the seats, and Niall’s stomach dropped.

“No,” he cried. “I’m sorry.”

Liam shrugged and said, “Time for you to take a nap now I’d say.” Liam didn’t feel a bit of sympathy for him even as his eyes clouded with tears; he knew that Niall knew exactly how to get Ty back, he was just being stubborn.

“Papa, tell him to give him to me,” Niall nearly screeched, and Harry shook his head.

“Inside voice, Niall,” Harry said, rubbing his temples. He was suddenly very glad that they had a car that had a dividing window from the front seat so that the driver didn’t have to listen to Niall’s dramatics. “Besides that, you’re talking to the wrong person. It’s not my choice.”

At this, Niall just burst into loud tears, kicking his feet and flailing his arms in a full tantrum. They all knew that Niall wasn’t really one for over-the-top tantrums, and when he was he was either very upset or very tired. Liam suspected it was a little of both, but that didn’t make him any less furious with Niall’s actions.

“Stop. Right now,” Liam said lowly, grabbing Niall’s chin in his hand. He looked into Niall’s eyes and watched as tears streaked down his red face. “Now we have ten minutes until we get to the venue. You already have a time-out. One more strike and it’s a spanking. Is that clear?”

Niall nodded and yanked his face out of Liam’s hold. He wrapped his arms around himself and continued to cry for the rest of the car ride. When it came time to get out of the car, Harry turned and wiped Niall’s tears away, shushing him as he was still sobbing quietly. He looked out the window and realized that since no one knew about this, there were no fans surrounding the building. Harry got out of the car and picked Niall up as well. Niall wrapped himself around Harry and allowed himself to be carried in. They were lead to a small, comfortable dressing room and told that they had about 30 minutes until they were going to start.

Liam took Niall from Harry’s arms and ignored his protests as he took him over to a corner of the room. He set Niall down in a chair that he had dragged over and crouched down in front of him.

“You know why you’re here. It’s unacceptable to throw tantrums and be rude to get what you want. You can come out in ten minutes,” Liam said, making sure to kiss Niall’s forehead before leaving him.

Niall still continued to cry, wanting to have his bear to cuddle with while he was sitting all alone in the corner. A couple minutes before his time was up, he began to doze off. The frustrating thing was that he could only fall asleep for a few moments in the uncomfortable chair before he caught himself and woke up. Niall pouted angrily at how terrible this day seemed to be and it was only 6:30. Liam came and picked him up from the corner and carried him around the room.

“Are you ready to be my good boy again?” Liam asked him gently. Niall nodded as he once again began to fall asleep. Liam put him down on the couch next to Zayn and watched the boy latch onto Zayn in his sleepy state. He smiled at him and hoped for the best for the rest of the day.

Choreography had gone well (well, for One Direction), but as soon as they got to wardrobe, all bets were off. Niall nearly had a meltdown as he realized that wardrobe for tour required them to change in front of several people. It was never a problem before, but now Niall was wearing a nappy and he was absolutely petrified at the idea of anyone finding out. Instead of being reasonable, however, Niall had resorted to being rude to their wardrobe people who had no idea what was going on. Zayn excused himself and Niall so that he could go and talk with the boy.

“Niall,” Zayn said, trying to get Niall out of the room before he had a full tantrum in front of everyone.

“What?” Niall snapped at him.

“I’ll handle it, Zayn,” Liam said. Zayn looked a little wary, but nodded anyway.

All of the color drained from Niall’s face as Liam took his hand and led him to the dressing room down the hall. Liam made sure to lock the door behind them before turning to Niall.

“Do you remember what I said this morning?” Liam asked, tilting Niall’s face up to look into his eyes.

“It’s not fair. I don’t want to change in front of everyone in a nappy,” Niall said, completely ignoring Liam.

“I understand that. Wouldn’t it have been easier to say that instead of being rude throwing a fit?” Liam asked, still not breaking eye contact.

“I don’t know,” Niall mumbled.

“I think you do. Especially considering you just had a time out for it this morning. Do you remember that?” Liam asked, and Niall blushed feeling entirely too patronized.

Niall looked down and whispered, “Yeah.”

“I also said that you had one more chance today and then it was a spanking. Do you remember that too?” Liam asked, not backing down.

Niall’s eyes filled with tears, but he didn’t respond. Liam sighed and pulled Niall over to the couch. He yanked Niall’s pants down and untapped the nappy around his hips and laid the already-sniffling boy over his lap. He didn’t waste any time lecturing Niall; he already knew why he was being punished. Instead, he focused on smacking the boy’s bum for a solid two minutes. Niall kicked and cried, and Liam’s heart clenched in his chest, but he didn’t give in. By the time he was done, Niall’s bum and thighs were pink and dark red in some places. Liam let out the breath he was holding and scooped Niall up into his arms. Niall continued to sob into Liam’s neck as Liam rubbed his back.

“Shh, angel,” Liam soothed into his ear. “You’re alright. It’s all over, I promise. I’m sorry I had to do that, shh. Daddy’s good little angel, aren’t you?”

Niall shook his head and cried more. “Sorry,” he choked out.

“I know, lovely. I know you are. Shh, shh, I love you so much. It’s okay,” Liam kept crooning to him.

Liam looked up as he heard a knock on the door, followed by the sound of a key unlocking it. He relaxed a little as he knew that only the other boys had keys to the dressing room.

Louis poked his head around the door and said, “They decided to just let us have our lunch break now.”

Liam nodded and beckoned for the rest of them to come in. He continued to rock Niall in his lap as his cries seemed to calm down a little bit. The other boys moved around the room silently, giving Liam and Niall some time to themselves. Liam heard Harry on the other side of the room ordering pizza, and he smiled. They all knew it was one of Niall’s favorite foods, and it was a switch since they usually ordered Chinese to their dressing room.

“Daddy?” Niall whispered hesitantly, still not looking up.

“Yes, love?” Liam said gently.

“Can I please have Ty now?” Niall sniffled.

“Of course, baby. Thank you for asking so nicely,” Liam cooed at him as he bent down awkwardly to retrieve the bear from Niall’s bag. He handed it to Niall and smiled as he cuddled it into his chest tightly. He stood Niall up in front of him and re-taped his nappy on before pulling his sweats on as well. Niall sat back down on Liam’s lap and cuddled into him. About fifteen minutes later, the pizzas arrived, and Niall’s face lit up.

“Can I have some?” Niall asked, bouncing over to Zayn who was cutting the pizza.

Zayn chuckled and kissed his forehead. “Hmm, I don’t know. What do you think, Louis? Can he have some pizza?”

“Well…” Louis said, continuing to play Zayn’s game. Niall whined and bounced some more.

“Please?” He begged, dragging the word out.

“Well since you asked so nicely,” Louis teased, tickling his stomach. Niall squealed and slapped playfully at Louis’ hands before Louis tugged him in against his chest, doing that thing where he whispers things that seem to make Niall the happiest person alive. Niall giggled some more before wiggling out of his hold and taking a plate of pizza from Zayn. He walked back over to Liam and sat down on his lap leisurely as he ate his lunch. Liam smiled and wound his arms around Niall’s stomach. Not all days were the best, but they were definitely all worth it.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

Niall woke up a few days later with one of the worst headaches he’d ever had. He sat up, rubbing his eyes and whining at the pain in his head. Instead of calling for one of the boys like he normally did now that he could freely play with his toys, he stood on his knees in the crib and held onto the bars as he waited for someone to check on him.  
It took about 15 minutes, but finally Zayn poked his head in the door, noticing that it was later than he usually slept. He frowned as he saw a few tears leaking out of Niall’s eyes.

“What’s wrong, love? Why didn’t you call for someone?” Zayn asked, his tone laced with concern.

“Want out,” Niall whimpered, holding up his arms.

Zayn’s frown deepened, but he complied. He lifted Niall up and carried him over to the changing table. He laid him down and made quick work of changing his nappy. He picked him back up when he was done and kissed his forehead. He noticed that Niall felt a little warmer than usual, so he asked, “Do you feel okay, babe?”

Niall nodded, and Zayn looked at him with concern but shrugged it off, assuming that it was the result of Niall getting himself worked up. He carried Niall downstairs to the kitchen and placed him in his high chair.

“Good morning, Ni,” Louis said to the pouting boy.

Niall looked down and huffed, not wanting to be in the restricting chair.

“Someone a little grouchy this morning then?” Louis asked amusedly. Zayn just shook his head in agreement with Louis. 

A few minutes later, Harry was done making breakfast. He slid a plate of food in front of Niall and said, “Eat up, munchkin.”

Niall picked up his fork and poked at the eggs on the plate. He stuck a small bite in his mouth and chewed it for what was probably considered too long. He slowly ate a few more bites before pushing the plate away. His headache was beginning to affect his stomach, and he was feeling nauseous. He scowled at the food and crossed his arms. He knew it would be easier to tell someone that he wasn’t feeling well so that they could give him medicine, but he was too stubborn. Besides that, he could certainly take care of himself when he was sick; he’d been doing it for three years, anyway.

Zayn furrowed his eyebrows at Niall’s lack of interest in the food. “Are you not hungry, Niall?”

“No,” Niall said with finality.

“Can you please eat a few more bites for me, love?” Louis asked him patiently with a smile.

“No,” Niall said. “I’m not hungry.”

The rest of the boys looked at each other strangely, but decided to let it go as it was Sunday, their day off, and no one wanted to fight with Niall. Besides, Niall had gotten a lot better about eating in the last few months as the boys had been making sure that he was eating three meals a day. Zayn stood up to go make Niall’s bottle for the morning and made sure to add a little bit of pediasure to it to make sure Niall was getting enough nutrients for the day. He walked back over to Niall and picked him up out of the high chair to give him the bottle. Zayn sat down with Niall in his lap and pressed the bottle to his lips.

What he wasn’t expecting was for Niall to turn his head. “Niall, I know you weren’t hungry but you’re going to drink your bottle. It’s not up for debate,” Zayn said with annoyance.

Niall scowled at him but opened his mouth to drink the bottle. He cringed as the warm milk made him even queasier but pushed back the feeling and continued to drink it down so that he could be alone. As soon as he finished, he pushed the bottle away from his face and slid off of Zayn’s lap. He walked toward his toy box and got things out to play with, turning his back to all of the other boys. Zayn sighed and stood up to put the bottle in the dish washer.

Niall laid on his side in the living room pushing little toy cars back and forth in boredom. His stomach was starting to feel a little bit better now that he was lying down and it had time to settle from the food, but his head was still pounding mercilessly. Finally, Louis got tired of seeing Niall push the same cars around and decided to step in.

“Are you just going to play with the same three cars all day?” Louis chuckled.

Niall didn’t even look up at Louis but said, “Yes.”

Louis was slightly taken aback by Niall’s quick reply, but sat next to him anyway. “Okay. Can I play with you, boo?”

This time Niall did look up at him. He sighed before nodding and going back to his methodical pushing of the cars. Louis got out the large box of Legos to build with. He grabbed one of the cars Niall wasn’t playing with in hopes of getting him to sit up. His plan backfired a little as Niall did sit up, but for a reason he wasn’t planning on.

“No, Dada! It’s my car,” Niall said, reaching for the toy in Louis’ hand. Louis just raised his eyebrows at Niall’s outburst.

“I thought you just told me I could play with you?” Louis challenged.

“I changed my mind,” Niall said, taking the car from Louis and laying back down. He felt a little dizzy from sitting up too quickly, and he was feeling quite frustrated that no one would just leave him alone.

“Well, fine, Mr. Grouch,” Louis muttered as he walked away.

“Niall, be nice,” Liam scolded him from the couch.

Niall just ignored Liam, and for the second time that day, all of the boys looked at each other perplexed.

Zayn finally shrugged and said, “Just leave him be. He can’t go too long alone.”

They did leave him alone, and Niall went another hour just playing with the same little cars. At some point, he began to feel worse rather than better. Hot tears involuntarily rolled down his even redder than normal cheeks, and he brushed them away angrily. Finally, Harry stood up after a quiet conversation between the boys about how Niall wouldn’t have time for a nap this afternoon because they planned to go out. Besides that, they all figured Niall was grumpy because he didn’t sleep well and would probably need a longer nap than usual. He walked over to Niall and bent down to pick him up without warning, causing Niall to lose it.

“Stop! Put me down!” Niall screeched, thrashing in Harry’s arms and making it very difficult to hold onto the boy.

“Niall!” Harry said sternly. Niall calmed down immediately at Harry raising his voice because he never did. Besides, all of the thrashing around was making his head pound more. “That’s enough. It’s time for a nap now I think. What in the world has gotten into you today?” Harry continued scolding him as he walked upstairs.

Niall whimpered at Harry’s angry voice as tears pooled in his eyes. He didn’t mean to be so grouchy, he just didn’t feel well. Harry stuck a finger in Niall’s nappy to check that it was dry before kissing the top of his head and laying him in his crib.

“Papa?” Niall whispered as Harry walked out, shutting the door behind him. He wanted to tell Harry what had actually “gotten into him,” and say that he wasn’t feeling well because he was tired of feeling awful. Niall started to cry as he looked around his crib and realized that he left Ty downstairs, and none of his daddies would bring it to him because he was so bad today.

Niall finally laid back down and curled up on his side, sticking his fingers in his mouth and crying. He laid there like that for what seemed like forever until Zayn came sneaking into the room with Ty. Niall immediately shut his eyes to give the illusion that he was sleeping so that he didn’t make Zayn any angrier with him. Zayn silently opened the side of the crib and set Ty down right next to Niall. He noticed Niall didn’t have a blanket on, so he threw one over him. He took a second to stroke Niall’s hair lovingly before shutting the crib back and leaving the room.

Niall’s eyes were wide open as soon as he heard the door shut. He immediately kicked the blanket off because he was too hot before reaching out and snatching Ty, hugging the bear to his chest and burying his face in it. He began taking deep breaths into the fur, calming himself down a little bit. He knew he was tired and he would feel better if he slept, but the pounding in his head was making it hard fall asleep. He whined and rolled over, shutting his eyes tightly. It went on like that until Zayn went to get Niall up for lunch.

“Niall,” Zayn called out gently as he walked into the room. Niall groaned and rolled over, looking at Zayn with his sore, tired eyes. “Did you sleep well, love?” Zayn cooed, getting Niall out and taking him downstairs. Niall just laid his head on Zayn’s shoulder as he walked and waited to be set down. Usually the rocking of steps when he was being carried soothed him, but now it was just making him woozy. He was set down in the high chair and once again given food that he didn’t want to eat. Harry sat down next to him and picked up his fork. He scooped some food onto it and held it up to Niall’s face.

“Come on, Ni. It’s macaroni. You like this,” Harry tried to convince him. Niall shut his eyes and accepted the bite of food. He ate a few more bites before he had to stop. He felt like he was going to be sick at any second.

Liam had been closely watching Niall because he was acting so strangely and saw the change in Niall. “Niall, are you alright, babe?” He asked.

“Daddy,” Niall whimpered. “I don’t feel good.”

And not even half a second after Niall said it, he got sick all over himself, the high chair, and Harry. It seemed like he threw up everything he’d eaten that day, which wasn’t much anyway. Everything was suddenly happening very quickly as Liam got Niall and stripped him down to his nappy before carrying him to the bathroom hurriedly in case he got sick again. Harry stood up and peeled his clothes off while Zayn rushed off to get things to clean up, and Louis went to go start a bath for Niall. Once Niall had gotten over the shock of the situation, he began to cry. More than that, he was wailing into Liam’s chest.

“Niall, Niall, baby,” Liam cooed to him. “It’s alright, love.” Niall wasn’t listening, though, and just continued crying. Getting sick had definitely made him feel a little better, but now Harry was probably even more mad at him for puking all over him, and all the rest of the boys would be upset because they had to clean up after him because he was too stubborn to admit he didn’t feel well earlier. “Do you still feel like you’re going to be sick?” Liam asked him.

Niall shook his head. “Nothing left,” he whimpered. Liam nodded sympathetically and stood up and rubbed his back, carrying him to the other bathroom where Louis had new clothes for Niall out and a bath running. As soon as they arrived, Liam set Niall down and told him to brush his teeth.

“Look, babe, you can take a nice bath, yeah? I bet that will make you feel better,” Liam said as he took off Niall’s nappy before placing him in the tub. Niall visibly relaxed even though there were still tears dripping down his face. He looked so pathetic, and Liam just wanted to hold him. Instead, Liam picked up a cloth and started rubbing it on his back. He washed off Niall’s face and shampooed and rinsed his hair before pulling the plug and quickly redressing Niall. Niall just blinked drowsily before reaching out for Liam. Liam picked him up again and swayed him a little.

“I’m sorry,” Niall mumbled.

“What for, angel?” Liam asked him confused.

“Being grouchy and not telling anyone I was sick. And then everyone had to clean up,” Niall said guiltily. He felt horrible at the way he had treated the boys today.

“Oh, love. No one is mad at you. I promise. Now we know where our sweet boy went. I bet they’re all just worried,” Liam said, kissing his nose. “Do you want to go see everyone?”

Niall nodded, so Liam carried him back to the living room where everyone else was sitting with The Lion King ready to play. Zayn smiled as they came down and sat next to him on the couch. He handed Niall his teddy bear and covered him with a blanket before giving him his bottle that was filled with ginger ale.

“How do you feel?” Zayn asked, brushing some wet hair from Niall’s eyes as he sipped the bottle.

“Better,” Niall said quietly.

“Good, I’m glad,” Zayn grinned.

“So are we gonna watch this movie now?” Louis asked jokingly impatient.

“Yeah, yeah, go ahead and start it,” Zayn said.

Niall wiggled from Liam’s lap to lie down on the couch with his head on Liam’s legs, and his own legs draped across Zayn’s lap. Even though he loved The Lion King, he couldn’t stay awake and ended up falling asleep within minutes.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

“Happy birthday, Baba!” Zayn heard Niall squeal before he was being jumped on. Zayn groaned at being woken up and at the extra weight on his chest, but wrapped his arms around Niall anyway.  
“Good morning, love,” Zayn smiled at him, kissing his forehead.

“Good morning. It’s your birthday,” Niall pointed out.

“Yes, I know. I’m getting old, don’t remind me,” Zayn chuckled, moving to get out of bed with Niall still attached to him.

“You’re not that old,” Niall giggled. “And you have a party tonight! Old people don’t have parties.”

“That’s right, I suppose. Are you going to be my big, responsible boy tonight?” Zayn asked him.

“Yes,” Niall said. “I’m responsible!”

Zayn hummed in response as he walked to the kitchen with Niall. They had all had many discussions about this party, ranging from Niall not attending to all bans being lifted for the night and everything in between. They still hadn’t agreed on specific details, but those could be determined as they came up.

“Alright, who let him jump on me to wake me up?” Zayn asked in a mock stern voice as they arrived in the kitchen.

“It was Liam!” Louis yelled.

“Whatever,” Liam rolled his eyes, and Zayn laughed. “Anything that happens today is the doing of those two,” Liam said, gesturing toward Louis and Harry with the spatula in his hand.

“We’re just trying to make sure you have the best birthday yet,” Louis said innocently.

“I agree,” Harry said. “Liam’s just a prude.”

Liam scoffed at that and turned to inconspicuously flip Harry off. Harry just laughed, and Zayn shook his head, setting Niall down in his high chair.

Most of the day was just like how any of their days off were. They all relaxed, and Niall played, occasionally asking Louis or Zayn to join in. Around 5:00, which was two hours before the party was supposed to start, the boys all sat Niall down to clarify the rules for the night.

“Okay, Niall,” Liam started, because he always seemed to start these things. “We’ve talked about this, right? Tonight you get to have fun, but you have to be with Harry or Louis at all times. Is that understood?” Liam asked and waited for Niall to nod before continuing. “You can have two drinks. Don’t make any of us regret that.”

“What about the nappy?” Niall asked.

The boys looked at each other before Zayn said, “Right. Use the toilet when you need to, but just in case and so that there aren’t any accidents, you’re going to leave it on.”

Niall pouted but agreed, knowing that they were being lenient tonight already with all things considered. So, with everything worked out, they all began to get ready for the party. An hour later, they were all ready. The party was going to be at a club in downtown London because they didn’t want to have to clean up the mess after a house party. When they arrived, most people were already there. Before they could get lost in the crowd, Zayn turned around to talk to Niall.

“Stay with Louis and Harry, remember?” Zayn said, smoothing out Niall’s jacket out of habit.

“Yeah, I know,” Niall said.

“Okay. Have fun, then,” Zayn smiled, making his way through the crowd to talk to everyone.

Niall did have fun. He danced and laughed and messed around with friends and talked to people he hadn’t seen in months all while making sure to keep sight of either Louis or Harry. Every few minutes, one of them would come to check on him as well. But it didn’t take long for Niall to get tired. Right now would usually be his bed time, and because they knew they would be busy tonight, Niall hadn’t gotten much of a nap. Niall used to be able to party for hours on end, but after having a schedule for so long, it was hard for him to adjust his sleeping times.

He looked over to Louis and Harry who were both talking and laughing with a large group of people. Normally, he would go over with them, but he could feel himself getting drowsier. The only thing going through his head at the moment was wanting to find Ba- Zayn. Niall shook his head as he knew that he was supposed to be “big” Niall tonight. He couldn’t remember when he wasn’t always big Niall being forced to be little Niall, but at some point things changed, and now he suddenly didn’t want to be big. The boys being his best mates again was fun for a while, but now he wanted his daddies instead.

Niall looked over his shoulder one last time to make sure Louis and Harry weren’t watching him to escape into the crowd in front of him. All kinds of people that he felt like he’d never met kept stopping him to talk, but each time, he’d just say he was looking for Zayn. He felt like he’d walked around the entire place three times, and he was starting to panic. He began asking around if people had seen Zayn anywhere a bit more feverishly only to be told no, or given drunken, made-up explanations.

He decided that maybe he should just go back to Louis and Harry since they were probably looking for him by now anyway, and if they had noticed he was gone, he was going to be in trouble for not obeying the rules they had tonight and wandering off. Tears came to Niall’s eyes in the realization that what he was doing was so stupid because no matter what happened, he was going to be in trouble or ruin Zayn’s birthday or both. Again, Niall found himself wandering around the very crowded and busy building with no idea where he was going. He quickly wiped the tears off of his face before anyone saw him crying and continued to push through people, ignoring all of the people that were trying to speak to him.

By some miracle, Niall spotted Zayn about ten feet away surrounded by people. He was talking with them and looked like he was having a good time, and normally Niall wouldn’t want to interrupt, but all that he could think of was that he was finally found Zayn. He rushed over to him, and crashed into him, making Zayn nearly fall over.

“Baba,” Niall whimpered into Zayn’s chest. Now that he had found Zayn, he felt like he could really cry and let out all of the fear and panic he had just experienced.

“Shit,” Zayn muttered, handing the drink in his hand off to someone else. He had just barely heard Niall call him Baba, but it was loud enough to signal that something was wrong. “Excuse us for a bit,” Zayn said, smiling at the people he had been talking with.

“Didn’t take you as a touchy, emotional drunk, mate,” someone said from behind Niall, and everyone around began to laugh at the joke. Zayn tried to contain it but couldn’t hold back the nasty look that he threw at all of them. Zayn half-carried, half-dragged Niall to a secluded corner of the club, playing off the “drunk” act as much as he could. Niall was still crying into Zayn by the time they stopped.

“What happened, Ni? Where are Louis and Harry?” Zayn asked, pulling Niall away from him to look into his eyes. Niall looked down and shrugged. Zayn sighed. “Let’s go out to the car, yeah? It’s quieter out there.”

Zayn took Niall’s hand so that he didn’t lose him and pulled him through the people and out to the car. He opened the door and gestured for Niall to get in before sliding in after him. Niall was immediately latched onto his side crying from exhaustion and stress.

“Shh, what happened, baby?” Zayn asked, bringing Niall into his lap.

“I don’t know,” Niall wailed.

“Okay, alright, you’re okay,” Zayn said, trying to get him to calm down. “Do Dada and Papa know where you are?” Niall shook his head into Zayn’s shoulder, and Zayn sighed, digging into his pocket to find his phone. “That wasn’t a very good thing to do. I’m sure they’re worried sick about you,” Zayn said sternly, scrolling through his missed messages from the other boys. He quickly typed out a group message to send to all of them. Niall sobbed at being scolded because he knew he was going to be in trouble. “What were you doing though?”

“I was tired, and I missed you. I’m sorry,” he sobbed.

“It’s alright, babe. I’m not mad at you, I promise,” Zayn said, kissing the top of Niall’s head. “Do you want to go home?”

“I don’t wanna ruin your birthday,” Niall sniffled.

“Oh, love. You’re not going to ruin my birthday. I had such a lovely day, and the party was fun, but do you want to know a secret?” Zayn said into Niall’s ear. Niall shrugged, so Zayn whispered, “I’ve been looking for an excuse to leave for at least an hour.”

“Nuh-uh,” Niall said disbelievingly.

“Yes-huh,” Zayn said, kissing his nose. “I’m not one for parties. Not even my own I guess.”

“Okay,” Niall said hesitantly. Zayn smiled at him, and dried some tears off his face. He got out and buckled Niall in before getting in the front seat.

“How’s everyone else gonna get home?” Niall asked.

“They’ll call a cab. I already told them we were going to leave,” Zayn told him, already pulling out of the parking lot.

Niall nodded, and it wasn’t too long before he was asleep with his head against the door.

 

Niall woke up to the rocking steps of Zayn carrying him inside the house. Zayn unlocked the front door of the house and kicked it shut behind him, carrying Niall straight up to his bedroom. He laid Niall down on the changing table to get him some pajamas and stopped when he realized Niall’s nappy was wet.

“When did you wet your nappy, Ni?” Zayn asked, untaping it and grabbing a new one.

“When I was lookin’ for you,” Niall slurred sleepily. “Was scary.”

“How long were you looking for me?” Zayn asked, getting concerned.

“I dunno. A long time,” Niall yawned.

Zayn frowned as he finished changing Niall. “I’m very sorry you were scared,” he said, picking Niall up and grabbing the bottle he’d picked up before coming upstairs. He sat down with Niall on his lap and pushed the bottle into his mouth. Niall drank it slowly as he started to fall asleep, and when he was finished, Zayn stood to put him in his crib. When Zayn put him down, though, Niall woke up and was crying again.

“No, Baba,” Niall cried, reaching up for Zayn. “Want to cuddle.”

“Okay, okay. Come on, then,” Zayn gave in, picking Niall up and carrying him into his own room. The last thing on his mind before he fell asleep with Niall in his arms was that the boys couldn’t give him grief for this because it was his birthday, and he would cuddle with his baby if he wanted to.


	15. Chapter Fifteen

Zayn woke up the next morning to the sun streaming in through his blinds. He looked next to him and smiled at the sight of Niall spread out on the other side of the bed with all of the blankets kicked off. Zayn slowly got out of bed so that he didn’t wake Niall up and made his way down to where the other boys were. Zayn walked into the kitchen and sat around the table with the other boys after pouring himself a cup of tea.  
“Morning,” Zayn said, and they all mumbled their replies. They sat in silence for a moment before Harry spoke up.

“Is Niall okay?” Harry asked.

Zayn sighed and said, “Yeah, I think so. He was really shaken up last night, though.”

“Can you explain what all happened?” Liam asked him with concern.

“He says that he was tired and missed me, so he decided to go looking for me. Apparently he got lost, and at some point fell back into this… headspace. He was really upset, so we just left,” Zayn shrugged.

“What do you mean he ‘fell into a headspace’?” Louis asked, his brows furrowed in confusion.

“When he found me, he called me ‘Baba’, and then I found out that he had wet himself while he was looking for me. He was acting like “little” Niall, I suppose,” Zayn replied, taking a sip of tea.

“Interesting,” Liam said. “Does anyone know how many drinks he had? This doesn’t sound like him. Especially when the only thing he’s ever concerned about is people finding out.”

“He only had one from what I saw,” Harry said, looking to Louis for confirmation. Louis nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, I didn’t smell any alcohol on him at all,” Zayn recalled.

Liam hummed and was silent for a moment before he said, “This kind of changes a lot. We need to make sure to watch him more closely when we’re in public. I think we should talk to him and ask what exactly it was that set off what happened last night.”

“God, Liam, you’re talking about it like he has a disease,” Louis chuckled half-heatedly. “But we understand.”

The boys let it go for a while and began talking about other things that happened at the party. Zayn thanked Louis and Harry for putting it all together, but tried hinting that he didn’t really want one next year. 

“Baba?” Niall said as he walked into the kitchen. All of the boys looked up at him as he walked in. Zayn smiled at him.

“Good morning, lovely,” Zayn said, opening his arms for him to sit on his lap.

Niall ignored him as he climbed into his lap and whimpered, “I couldn’t find you.”

Zayn looked a little confused before realizing that Niall was probably still a little freaked out from the events of the night before. “I’m sorry, baby. I just came downstairs. I wanted to let you sleep,” he said, brushing some of Niall’s bed head out of his eyes.

“But I didn’t know where you were,” Niall said, burying his face in Zayn’s neck.

“I know. I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking, love,” Zayn said, rubbing Niall’s back.

“Okay,” Niall mumbled.

“Okay,” Zayn echoed him. “Do you want some cereal?” He asked Niall gently.

“Yeah, please,” Niall said.

“Alright, I’ll get it,” Zayn said, kissing the top of Niall’s head before standing and setting him in Liam’s lap.

“No, hold me,” Niall whined, reaching out for Zayn.

Zayn started to comply but Liam waved him off. “Ni, we wanted to talk to you about last night. Is that okay? Besides, Baba doesn’t have enough hands to carry you and your breakfast,” Liam explained.

Niall nodded slowly, not taking his eyes off of Zayn as he turned back around to get milk out of the fridge.

“Can you look at me for a second, angel?” Liam asked Niall as he stroked Niall’s cheek. Niall slowly tore his eyes away from Zayn and gave Liam his full attention after one last glance over his shoulder to make sure Zayn was still there. “That’s my good boy,” Liam smiled at him. “Now, I’m sorry that you got lost last night, but I think you need to apologize to Dada and Papa as well. They were very worried about you when they couldn’t find you.”

Niall turned his head to look at the other two and said, “I’m really sorry.”

Louis and Harry smiled at him before Harry said, “It’s okay, babe. We’re just glad you’re alright.”

Niall nodded guiltily before turning to look back at Liam. Liam sighed before saying, “I really ought to spank you for wandering off.” Niall’s eyes widened before Liam spoke again. “But I think you learned your lesson by how scary it was. Are you ever going to wander off or break a rule like that again?”

“No. I’m sorry, Daddy,” Niall said quickly.

“I know,” Liam smiled. “I also wanted to tell you that we’re so proud of you for not breaking any of the other… more important rules,” Liam said, hesitant to point out that some rules were more important than the others. “And we have one more thing to talk about, but for now, eat your breakfast,” Liam said, kissing his cheek quickly before allowing Zayn to lift Niall off of his lap.

When Zayn tried to put Niall in his high chair, the boy nearly burst into tears, so Zayn sat back down with Niall in his lap as the younger boy happily ate his cheerios. When he was finished eating, Louis took the bowl over to the sink before coming to sit back down. They had all decided that it would be easier to have the upcoming conversation at the table to make it easier.

“The last thing we need to talk about is when you noticed that you started thinking of me as Baba or us as your daddies in general,” Zayn said, stroking Niall’s back gently.

Niall blushed and bit the inside of his cheek. “I dunno. I always do, I think. It’s weird to switch. I don’t like it,” Niall said, obviously becoming a little “bigger” as he spoke.

“Okay,” Zayn said slowly as the other boys looked on with interest. “But do you know exactly when last night?”

Niall thought for a second before saying, “I was really tired. Then I couldn’t find you, and I was scared, and then I thought I was going to be in big trouble, and I got sad.”

“That helps us very much. Thank you for being honest,” Liam said genuinely.

“You’re welcome,” Niall mumbled back, still a little embarrassed.

“Alright, love. Why don’t you go play with your toys for a bit?” Zayn said gently as he set Niall down in front of him.

“You come with me?” Niall asked quietly.

“I’ll come in a few minutes, baby. Look, you can sit right there where you can see me, and I’ll come play with you as soon as I’m done,” Zayn smiled softly.

“Don’t wanna be alone,” Niall whimpered.

“Okay, okay. Shh, don’t cry, we can go now, okay?” Zayn said, picking up Niall and carrying him across the room to try to stop his tears before they came. The boys were all looking at them skeptically, and Zayn shrugged before making his way out of the room. He stopped at the fridge first and put a bottle in the microwave for Niall, thinking he’d need it. As soon as it was done, he walked to the couch and sat down, maneuvering Niall in his arms so that he’d be more comfortable.

“I’m not going to disappear, Ni,” Zayn said as he stuck the bottle in his mouth and stroked his cheek gently. “If I’m not around, I promise one of your other daddies will be. We love you very much.”

Niall just continued sucking on the bottle, staring at Zayn intently. Zayn just smiled at him and stared right back. Soon enough, Niall giggled and looked away as he finished the milk.

As if on cue, Louis bounded into the room. “So which toys are we playing with today, Ni?”

The day had gone smoothly enough, and Niall was finally allowing Zayn to be out of his sight without making a fuss. The boys played with Niall and watched movies and loved and cuddled him all day long, chasing away any fears that Niall might have had about any of them leaving or being somehow unreachable to him. And no one seemed to mind when they all piled into the large bed in the spare bedroom at Niall’s bedtime with Niall in the middle and his daddies surrounding him.


	16. Chapter Sixteen

The weeks leading up to their upcoming tour were stressful to say the least. Not so much for Niall, because all of his sources of stress were mostly a lack of sleep, which led to him being grouchy, or him not taking care of himself- both of which were now being taken care of for him. For the other boys, however, it was still quite the same in the way they had to deal with the stress of being busy and running around. Obviously none of them were nearly as bad as Niall used to be, but they each had their own little quirks when it came to handling anxiousness. On top of that, they had to take care of Niall. None of them looked at it as a major problem at all, but to Niall, he felt like a burden. He tried to keep to himself, but it was hard to go very long without the attention from all of his daddies.

Niall’s only stress was really that with being on the road came being in public more often; and with being in public came the risk of their secret being found out much greater. Understandably, this was at the front of his mind constantly. He didn’t know how he was supposed to be “big” all the time after being little. He didn’t know how wearing nappies on stage was going to work out. He was terrified that he was going to slip up and call one of the boys “Daddy” or “Papa.” Naturally, the situation was what he was most apprehensive about in his otherwise excited mood of going back on tour.

Of course, the last thing he needed was to express his concerns just to be shot down once again. Whenever he said that he was worried about it, one of them always just cuddled him and said that he had nothing to be worried about. Niall was still wary about the entire situation anyway, but he tried not to make a fuss about things he knew weren’t going to change anymore.

So, while the tension between everyone had been growing, Niall stayed out of it completely. Whenever one of the boys seemed to be more stressed than the others on a certain day, he would stay away and avoid asking them for anything. On certain days when everyone seemed to be having a bad day, Niall would sit on the floor in his room or the corner of the living room and quietly play with his toys, not bothering any of them with things like needing his nappy changed or wanting something to eat. Usually one of them would periodically check on him, and if they asked about specific things, he would be honest, but otherwise he tried to be less of a burden for the time being. Zayn, Liam, Louis, and Harry had all just begun to assume that Niall had regressed slightly more into his headspace and used that as their explanation for him not telling them when he needed a change along with other things anymore. They knew from the incident at Zayn’s birthday party that Niall was now leaning toward his little tendencies more than wanting to be “big.”

The day of their last rehearsal before the tour was full of running around and fixing things and yelling coming from everyone. All of the boys knew that everything was to be perfect, and obviously they wanted the show to be good as well. When they were released for their break, they all piled into a car to go somewhere for lunch. Niall had long since used his nappy- he thought it was probably about two hours ago- after trying to hold it as long as possible. At this point in the day, it was also the exact time that Niall was used to having his nap.

Once again, five minutes into their drive, the boys were bickering about where to go to lunch. Instead of getting involved, Niall curled up in his seat and closed his eyes to try to get a nap in. Since he didn’t have his teddy or blanket, he subconsciously slipped his fingers into his mouth as he fell asleep. It was no more than a few seconds later that Harry was scolding him for it.

"Niall! Get your fingers out of your mouth! The last thing we need is you getting sick again," Harry scolded.

Niall whimpered, and his eyes filled with tears at the harshness in Harry’s voice. He quickly removed his fingers from his mouth but remained curled up in his seat. He squirmed a little as his wet nappy was suddenly becoming very uncomfortable, but he made himself wait.

Meanwhile, Louis eyed Harry unhappily before grabbing Niall’s teddy bear out of the bad they carried with them full of the things he needed.

"Here, babe," Louis smiled at Niall as he handed him the bear. Niall immediately hugged it to himself.

"Thank you," he mumbled, avoiding all of their eyes as he held in his tears. He turned his head into Ty and began to fall asleep again. A while later, they were stopped in front of a little diner. As they got out, Niall decided to ask Liam to change him. He tugged on the back of Liam’s shirt, and Liam hummed at him without looking up from his phone.

"Daddy, can you-” Niall started before Liam cut him off.

"I’m busy, Niall, go to someone else," Liam said, waving him off as he answered his buzzing phone.

Niall’s face crumpled as he turned around and awkwardly walked with his heavy nappy between his legs into the restaurant. They were seated at a table as soon as they walked in. Niall sat down carefully and stared down at his lap. He was definitely on the verge of tears, so he wasn’t going to look up until he was sure he wasn’t going to cry.

"Niall, what are you going to eat?" Zayn asked him. Niall shrugged without looking up.

Louis sighed. “We don’t have time for this. We still need to pack. Just pick something out for him.”

Niall knew Louis wasn’t trying to be mean, and he was actually right, but that didn’t stop it from hurting any less. His breath hitched, and he couldn’t stop the single tear that fell. He quickly rubbed it off his face and got lucky when the other boys didn’t seem to notice. Zayn ended up ordering something for Niall, and Niall watched him carefully to see when the best time to speak up about his wet nappy would be because by now it was getting rather uncomfortable.

"Baba," Niall whispered as they were all looking down at their phones.

"Hmm?" Zayn hummed.

"I, um…" Niall started awkwardly.

"What is it, Niall?" Zayn asked exasperatedly.

"I’m wet," Niall whimpered quickly, shutting his eyes tightly.

Zayn sighed heavily making Niall feel extremely guilty and motioned for Niall to follow him to the bathroom. Niall followed behind him, rubbing harshly at his eyes to stop tears. When they got to the bathroom, Zayn laid the portable changing mat they had down on the ground, and Niall silently laid on it.

"Baba, can I have Ty?" Niall asked quietly.

"No, this is only going to take a few seconds," Zayn said, digging through the "baby bag."

Niall closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He usually always had Ty to hold onto while he was having his nappy changed, and he especially needed the bear now that they were in public. Zayn quickly began changing him and sighed when he saw the rash forming in his diaper area.

"Why didn’t you tell someone you needed a change?" Zayn asked, digging through the bag again in search of rash cream. "Now we’re going to have to look after this rash as well."

Niall whined as Zayn started to apply the cream in spots it hurt and couldn’t help the few tears that fell. When Zayn was finished, Niall held up his arms to be picked up because he wanted a cuddle, but Zayn was already across the room washing his hands. Niall huffed and stood up himself before exiting the bathroom without Zayn.

The day continued much the same way with Niall seeming to always be getting scolded about something or another. All day long Niall had to push down the lump in his throat and quickly wipe away tears when one or two fell. Finally, they were released for the day to go home. At that point, Niall was so sleepy he could hardly keep his eyes open because they’d had to wake up early, and Niall hadn’t gotten his nap.

As soon as they got home, Niall went straight over to his toy box even though he was tired. He knew the boys didn’t want him to nap because he wouldn’t sleep later on, and besides, he didn’t get to play with his toys all day. He sat a and concentrated fully on the building blocks in front of him, shaking his head when he began to nod off. Eventually he got bored with the blocks and took up lying down to play with cars and Legos. At some point he sneakily put his fingers back in his mouth. He didn’t know why he liked it so much, but he did, and it was comforting for some reason, especially while he was alone. He lazily rolled his cars around, mostly just to stay awake.

Niall was too focused on watching his toys fly across a small amount of space to see Harry come over and crouch next to him. He pulled Niall’s fingers away from his mouth and lightly smacked the back of his hand, mostly to get his attention. Niall looked up at him in shock.

"I’ve already told you today, Niall. We don’t put our fingers in our mouths. It’s icky, and it’s not good for your teeth. Am I clear?" Harry asked quietly, but with a stern tone. Niall sniffled but nodded before Harry stood and walked to sit on the couch.

Louis had been watching the incident take place and sighed when he saw Niall sit up with a trembling lip and tear-filled eyes. He thought for a second before hopping up and running to the upstairs closet. Zayn eyed him stangely from his place on the couch on the other side of the room, confused at his actions. They all remained confused until Louis came bounding down the stairs with a small package in his hand. He sat back down and called Niall to him.

"Come here, lovely, I have something for you," Louis cooed at the crying boy. Niall slowly made his way to where Louis was sitting before climbing into his lap. "Here," Louis said as he took a dummy out of the packaging. He slid it in between Niall’s lips and watched the stunned boy move it around in his mouth for a few minutes before slowly sucking on it.

"Where in the world did you get that?" Liam asked from next to Zayn.

Louis shrugged. “We’ve had it in the closet since that first day we went shopping. I think we just picked it up just in case,” he said, turning to Harry. “Is this sanitary enough for you, you germaphobe?” Louis asked accusingly.

Harry nodded. “I don’t care what any of you say. It’s disgusting and germy, and who even knows where his fingers have been?”

"Oh, please," Louis said, bringing the still-crying boy closer to his chest. "Do you like it, babe?" Louis asked just Niall. Niall nodded, and Louis smiled. "More than your fingers?" He asked. This time Niall shrugged. Louis wiped the remaining tears off his face before Niall climbed off and crawled away back to his corner.

"What are you doing, Ni?" Louis asked.

"Gonna play," Niall said quietly.

"Why don’t you come cuddle with me? You’ve been playing all afternoon," Louis said, smiling at him.

Niall considered it but shook his head. Zayn frowned. Niall was never one to turn down cuddles, especially after he’d just been crying. He stood to pick Niall up off of the floor, and Niall broke down when he did. Zayn stared at him in shock before taking him to sit down.

"Niall, darling, what’s wrong?" Zayn asked the sobbing boy in his lap, taking the dummy out of his mouth so he would speak.

"Everyone’s too busy. Tell me to go away, and I always get in trouble. I don’t mean it, promise. ‘m sorry," Niall choked out.

The boys all stared at Niall in complete surprise. None of them knew what to say. They knew that they’d all been busier and more stressed, but they hadn’t noticed how much it was effecting Niall.

"Oh, baby," Zayn said sadly, rocking Niall side to side in his lap. The other boys moved so that they would all be on the same couch. After a few minutes of Niall still not calming down, Liam moved him over onto his lap and began talking to him.

"We’re very sorry that we haven’t given you much attention. We all love you so much. And we’re never, ever too busy for you, angel," Liam soothed into his ear. Niall took a deep, shuddery breath before leaning into Liam’s chest. He wiped his face on Liam’s shirt, and Liam tried not to cringe at him wiping his tears and snot all over him.

"It’s all okay, love," Harry whispered to Niall from his place next to Liam. Zayn put the dummy back in Niall’s mouth, and they all watched as he peacefully fell asleep with the dummy bobbing in his mouth.


	17. Chapter Seventeen

Along with touring came a relentless amount of interviews, especially in countries they weren’t in very much. All of the boys were fully aware of that and were used to it. Today, though, was a little bit different. Liam wasn’t feeling well, and when the doctor visited, she suggested that Liam be on bed rest until the concert that evening just to be safe. To make it less obvious that one of them was missing, they were told to split up in pairs. Zayn and Louis were in one interview while Harry and Niall were in another, and so on. The interviews all went well enough, and Harry and Niall ended up finishing before the other two boys. Niall bounced out of the venue with Harry on his heels all the way to the bus.   
“I’m gonna make Daddy a card,” Niall said excitedly.   
“I’m sure he’ll love it, babe,” Harry said, trying to keep up with the boy. “Slow down, love. He’s still going to be there in five minutes.”   
“Okay, but I think Baba needs to help with my card, cos I can’t draw,” Niall said with a frown, completely ignoring Harry. Harry chuckled and shook his head at the boy. “And I’m going to give Daddy lots of cuddles because he gave me cuddles when I was sick, and it was very nice,” Niall exclaimed, apparently no longer deterred by his poor artistic abilities.   
“Alright,” Harry said as they approached the bus. “But if Daddy says he wants to be alone, you need to be a good boy and leave him be. Understood?”   
Niall nodded and smiled innocently at Harry, waiting for him to open the door. Harry finally did, and Niall jumped in front of him, scrambling up the few stairs and running through the bus to the bunk area where Liam was “sleeping.”   
“Daddy, Daddy, Daddy,” Niall called as he skipped back. He frowned when he opened the curtain to Liam’s bunk, and he wasn’t there, but shrugged and continued to make his way to the back room where they spent most of their time anyway. He threw the door open, and his eyes immediately landed on Liam who was sitting on a couch in his line of vision.   
“Daddy,” Niall squealed as he went to sit on Liam’s lap. Liam looked at him in shock before shooting a nervous glance in the the other direction where Paul was sitting, looking just as shocked. Niall pouted at his Daddy not being as happy to see him as he wanted him to be and turned to look in the direction Liam was currently looking in.   
Niall’s heart stopped when he saw Paul sitting there with wide eyes and an open mouth. He began to breathe harder and his eyes filled with tears as he looked back and forth between Liam and Paul.   
“Sorry,” Niall whimpered before getting off of Liam’s lap and running out of the “room.”   
“Niall,” Liam called to him as he watched him run off and slam the door behind him. He sighed and slumped back into the couch behind him, knowing that Harry was definitely out there, and for now he needed to finish his discussion with Paul and then explain all of this as well.   
“I know it’s none of my business, but,” Paul started.   
“I know, I know. I’m not upset that you know, we probably should have told you anyway. It’s just…” Liam cut him off.   
Paul held his hand up before Liam could continue. “I don’t need or want to know all of the specifics of this. Niall’s happier than he has been in months, so whatever you’re doing, I’m not going to interfere.”   
Liam sighed again, but this time it was in relief. “Thank you. It’s really not that complicated, he’s just sensitive and a little emotional. And what we’re doing isn’t really weird… well I mean it’s weird, but probably not in the way that you’re thinking. I mean-” Liam huffed as he tried to find the right words. “We just all love him a lot, and we’re taking care of him because it’s what he needs.”   
Paul smiled. “I understand. You don’t have to say anything else.”   
“Thank you. Again,” Liam said.

Things on the other side weren’t necessarily going as well.   
When Niall slammed the door behind him, tears immediately began to roll down his cheeks. His vision was blurry, and he ran right into Harry who was making his way to the back anyway.   
“Where are you going so fast, silly?” Harry asked him, pulling back to look at him. He gasped quietly when he saw Niall crying. “What happened? I told you Daddy might want to be left alone, yeah? It’s okay,” Harry said, assuming Liam had told Niall he didn’t want him around for a while.   
Niall sobbed into Harry’s chest as Harry pulled him tighter against himself. “No, let go of me,” Niall said, hitting at Harry’s chest and squirming away. Harry finally let go of him, and Niall was out the door of the bus before he even had time to blink. Harry’s eyes went wide with shock before he finally reacted and ran out after him, not wanting him to be alone and around so many people while he was little.   
Niall just ran and ran and didn’t stop, even when the pain in his knee kept getting worse. Tears were still racing down his cheeks, but he held in his sobs until he could get somewhere he was alone. He ran into the back entrance of the venue and looked down the hallway finding exactly what he was looking for- a bathroom. He ran into it, and slammed the door behind him. He leaned against the door and slid down to the floor, putting his head in his hands as he sobbed. He couldn’t believe he’d screwed up so badly. Now Paul knew the secret they’d all worked so hard to keep for months.   
Unfortunately for Niall, Harry had come in the doors right behind Niall and had seen him go into the bathroom. He jogged to the bathroom where he knew Niall was and knocked on the door softly.   
“Niall? Are you alright?” Harry asked him gently, but loudly enough that he could be heard through the door. When he got no answer but Niall’s cries, he continued. “Baby, can you please come out and talk to me?”   
“No,” Niall wailed from the other side of the door.   
“I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s wrong, lovely,” Harry sighed, leaning against the door.   
“No! No, no, no, no,” Niall yelled, kicking his legs in a little tantrum.   
“Niall, please,” Harry almost begged, beginning to feel exasperated.   
Niall cried at the frustration in Harry’s voice. He was making everyone mad and ruining everything. He heard Harry’s footsteps leaving and getting further away and immediately regretted not letting him come in. He knew Harry would have reassured him that everything would be okay and given him cuddles, but now he was left alone in a bathroom crying to himself.   
Meanwhile, Harry was frantically trying to find Zayn. If he knew anyone that could help Niall when he was upset, it was definitely Zayn. He eventually found him in the same interview room he’d been in earlier. He looked like he was no longer busy, so Harry entered the room.   
“Zayn, Niall needs you,” Harry said quickly.   
“What? Is he okay?” Zayn asked, already following Harry out of the room.   
“I don’t know. We went to go see Liam on the bus, and he ran out crying. He’s in the bathroom down the hall, but he locked the door and won’t let me in,” Harry said in one breath.   
“Okay,” Zayn said slowly as they approached the bathroom. “I’ll handle it. Why don’t you go back to Liam and ask him what happened?” Zayn suggested. Harry nodded, and Zayn watched him walk down the hallway and walk outside.   
Zayn took a deep breath before raising his hand and lightly knocking on the door. “Niall,” he called gently, pressing his face near the crack of the door. “Can I come in, please?”   
Zayn heard some shuffling around as Niall’s cries got impossibly louder. “Baba?” He asked from inside the room.   
“Yeah, love. I’m very worried about you, baby. Will you please unlock the door so that I can try to fix whatever’s upset you?” Zayn said, keeping his voice even and low.   
Niall hesitantly scooted himself across the floor and opened the door slowly without standing up. Zayn’s heart shattered into a million pieces when he saw Niall’s red, tear-stained face. He waited for Niall to open the door fully so that he didn’t seem mad or pushy and so that he could allow Niall to make the decision. When Niall had finally opened the door wide enough, Zayn slid in and lifted him off of the floor, closing the door behind them. Niall openly sobbed into Zayn’s shoulder.   
“Can’t fix, Baba,” Niall choked out around his sobs.   
“Shh, what are you talking about? Can you calm down for me so we can talk? Can you do that for me?” Zayn asked into Niall’s ear, bouncing him lightly.   
Niall tried and tried to calm down, but he couldn’t. Everytime he would start to breathe normally again, he would think about the look on Liam’s face after the fact or how much things were going to have to change all over again or how now since Paul knew, everyone would know.   
“Baby, you really need to calm down. Take deep breaths, yeah? You’re going to be sick,” Zayn said, quickly growing concerned with how hard Niall was crying.   
“I can’t,” Niall wailed.   
“Shh,” Zayn soothed. The next thing he knew, Niall was getting sick all down the front of both of them. Zayn sighed as Niall just kept crying, but he couldn’t bring himself to be frustrated or upset. He simply hiked Niall a little further up on his hip and stealthily made his way out of the back of the venue and to the bus with Niall crying all the way.   
“Can’t go back to bus,” Niall cried.   
“And why not?” Zayn asked, continuing to walk anyway.   
“Paul there,” Niall whimpered quietly.   
“He’s just checking on Liam, love,” Zayn mumbled to him.   
“I say Daddy, and Paul there,” Niall said, beginning to become upset again because Zayn was still walking toward the bus.   
And all of a sudden, it all clicked in Zayn’s mind. “Oh,” Zayn said, stopping just outside the bus door. “It’s alright, Ni. It’s all going to be fine. We’ll work it out, yeah? There’s absolutely nothing you need to worry about,” Zayn said, kissing Niall’s head. He was starting to get really uncomfortable standing in clothes covered in sick, but he was far more concerned with making sure Niall was okay before taking care of himself. He waited for Niall’s sad nod, and opened the door, walking straight to their custom and large bathroom. Most busses had small bathrooms with walk-in showers, but they had all requested having a larger bathroom with a small tub and shower head since they bathed Niall and spent more time on the bus than in hotel rooms.   
Zayn walked into the bathroom and set Niall on the toilet, immediately stripping Niall and himself of the shirts. He wadded them up and threw them to the corner before turning on the water to give Niall a bath. Usually a bath would calm him down, and he also wasn’t smelling or looking the best right now after that episode. He helped Niall out of the rest of his clothes and slowly set him up in the tub. By now, tears were still silently streaming down Niall’s face, but Zayn was just relieved that he had calmed down a little bit or at least enough that he could form words and sentences. He got a few bath toys out for Niall and dropped them in the water, but Niall just stared at the water interestedly.   
“You don’t want to play, Ni?” Zayn asked him as he wet a cloth and put some soap on it. Niall just shrugged and swirled the water around with his hands a little bit. Zayn bathed him as quickly as possible, making sure to wash his hair carefully and clean his face.   
“Don’t you feel better now that you’re clean?” Zayn asked, smiling at him. Niall shrugged again, still not looking up. Zayn turned and got a fresh nappy out for him from under the sink. He pulled the plug on the tub and helped Niall stand up, wrapping a towel around him to dry him off. He laid Niall on the floor and taped on the nappy, kissing his stomach after he’d finished. He frowned when Niall didn’t giggle like he usually did, but hauled him into his arms anyway.   
“Let’s go talk to Daddy, hmm?” Zayn hummed.   
“No, Baba. Need clothes,” Niall objected, squirming to be set down.   
“It’s alright, love. Paul already left, it’s just us here,” Zayn said, kissing Niall’s cheek.   
“Still want clothes,” Niall whined, pushing against Zayn’s chest.   
“Okay,” Zayn said, cautiously setting him down before leaving and getting him some clothes. He came back a few moments later with some sweats and a t-shirt. He helped Niall into them and picked him up again. Niall laid his head down on his shoulder and closed his eyes as Zayn carried him back to the back room where the whole scene had taken place. Niall’s hands tightly fisted Zayn’s new shirt as he sat down with Niall on his lap and Liam on his right.   
“No one is upset with you, angel,” Liam said, stroking Niall’s cheek lightly. Niall looked up at him through his eye lashes.  
“But I ruined our secret,” Niall whimpered.   
“No you didn’t. It’s just Paul. Isn’t it nice that he knows?” Liam smiled at him lightly, moving his hand to run his fingers through Niall’s hair. “I think it’s easier that way, don’t you?” Liam asked Zayn.   
“I agree,” Zayn said, kissing the top of Niall’s head.   
“I guess,” Niall mumbled. Seconds later, Harry came through the door. His face flooded with relief when he saw Niall on Zayn’s lap.   
“Baby,” was all Harry said as he walked over and pulled Niall off of Zayn’s lap and into his own. “I was worried about you,” Harry said, kissing his face all over. “No more locking doors, okay? New rule,” Harry said, trying to be firm, but it wasn’t quite working because he was too happy that Niall was okay.   
“Okay, Papa,” Niall said, starting to smile a little bit. He laughed a little and squirmed when Harry started kissing and nuzzling his neck. Niall eventually wiggled his way off of Harry’s lap and got back on Zayn.   
“Can you help me make a card for Daddy?” Niall whispered to him not so quietly.   
Liam and Harry smiled at each other as Zayn whisper-yelled a “yes,” back to Niall. Zayn stood up with Niall in his arms with Niall animatedly telling him all of his plans for the card, the entire incident seemingly forgotten.


	18. Chapter Eighteen

“Be careful, Niall,” Liam warned, watching Niall bounce around.

“I am,” Niall giggled as he ran around their rather large dressing room, chasing a remote control car around as he pushed all the buttons with the controller he had clutched in his hands.

“Give it a rest, Liam, he’s just excited,” Louis said from the other side of the room.  
“Fine, then you can be the one to take him to the hospital when he falls and splits his head open,” Liam grumbled. Louis just rolled his eyes at Liam and looked back down at his phone.

They had decided the night before that they would rather just have a calm day and hang out at the venue rather than going out. They were glad to have the quiet time, but Niall had been bouncing off the walls all day long. It was nearing his nap time, and Liam was already dreading it because he knew it probably wasn’t going to happen, and if it did it wouldn’t be without a fight.

“I’m gonna go out to the bus for a while,” Louis said, standing up and heading toward the door. “You guys staying here?”

Liam looked up at Louis and then over at Niall. He sighed, but nodded. “Yeah. Unless you want to take him and put him down for a nap,” Liam said hopefully.

Louis snorted. “Yeah, alright, mate. Good luck with that one.”

“Thanks a lot,” Liam muttered as Louis slipped out the door.

“Daddy, I don’t need a nap,” Niall said, suddenly picking up on their conversation.

“It’s not up to you,” Liam said resignedly. They had this argument every day whether it was obvious Niall was tired or not. “You need to take one or you’ll want to sleep tonight when we have a concert. And besides, it’s not time yet. I’ll tell you when it is, and that’s when you’ll take your nap. Understood?” Liam lectured. It wasn’t like he was always getting strict with Niall; it was just annoying to have the same fight every single day.

“Fine,” Niall huffed, going back to his remote control car. Liam shook his head and stood to get a snack from the table with all the food on it.

“Do you want a snack, Ni?” Liam asked.

Niall looked up and thought for a moment before shaking his head. “No, thank you,” he said. “Daddy, can I play with my car in the hallway?” He asked Liam, giving him his best innocent, pleading eyes.

Liam looked unimpressed, but agreed anyway. “Don’t go too far, please,” he said as Niall ran after the car in front of him. Niall shut the door behind him, and Liam relaxed back onto the couch with a plate-full of food.

It wasn’t even five minutes before something went wrong.

“Uh, Liam,” one of their tech people knocked on the already-opened door.

“Yeah?” Liam asked, looking up at him.

“Niall is, um, crying, and I think he wants you?” The guy said nervously. “I think he fell, but he wouldn’t let me help him.”

Liam gasped and ran out of the room after thanking the guy. As soon as he was down the hallway he could hear Niall crying. He rushed around the corner and saw Niall on the floor, holding his knee and sobbing.

“Daddy,” Niall cried, reaching up for Liam. Liam couldn’t help himself when he quickly scanned the area around them to make sure no one else was around.

“Oh, love,” Liam said. He reached down and picked Niall up bridal style and walked back to the dressing room. Niall turned his head into Liam’s shoulder as best he could in the position and cried. Luckily, it only took a minute or two to get back to their room. Liam shut the door behind him, not wanting anyone but the other boys to come in unexpectedly for right now. He laid Niall down on the couch and crouched down next to him so he could talk to him.

“What happened?” Liam asked him with concern, even though he had a pretty good idea of what happened.

“Fell,” Niall sobbed out. “Want Ty.”

“Okay,” Liam said, already reaching for the bag Ty was in. “But you have to promise me you’ll still talk to me, yeah? No hiding from me,” Liam continued as he handed the bear to Niall. Niall nodded and cuddled it firmly to his chest, hot tears still racing down his red cheeks.

“Okay, baby,” Liam mumbled, brushing some tears off of his cheeks. “What hurts, angel?”

“Knee,” Niall wailed, as if he was suddenly reminded of the pain. Liam cursed internally, knowing that it was the worst idea their team had ever had when they said Niall’s knee surgery would have to wait even longer.

“Alright, it’s fine. I’ll get you some medicine, and I’ll call our nurse in to check on you. You’ll be okay, angel,” Liam said, kissing his forehead lightly before calling the nurse they had with them on tour.

“No doctor!” Niall cried. He didn’t want anyone coming in to poke at his knee and tell him he needed to have surgery again. He knew that already and there was nothing he could do about it, so they would just give him a brace and tell him to take it easy.

“Shh,” Liam hushed him, running his fingers through Niall’s hair. “I’ll call Paul right now to see what he wants us to do, okay?”

“But no doctor,” Niall insisted, tears still flowing down his face.

“We’ll see, baby. If he says you need to see the doctor, you will,” Liam said, listening to the phone ring and to Niall whine and cry at the same time.

Paul finally picked up, and Liam was quick to explain what happened to him. “Niall was playing and fell on his knee. He’s crying and says it hurts, but he really doesn’t want to see the doctor, so I called you,” Liam explained.

“Is it swollen?” Paul asked, trying to get all of the details.

“Uh, just a second,” Liam said, and Paul heard shuffling noises and cries through the phone. He winced as Niall let out a particularly loud cry, probably as Liam removed his pants from the offending leg.

Liam cleared his throat as he looked at Niall’s knee. He was trying to stay calm, but he was really concerned about how large it was. “Yeah, I’d say it’s really swollen. He just cries whenever I touch it, though.”

“I’ll bring him a brace,” Paul said, already moving to get it. “We’ll see how he feels for the concert tonight, but he might do the whole thing sitting down.”

“Yeah right,” Liam said. “Bad knee or not, the boy can’t sit still for more than five minutes,” he chuckled lightly, still playing with Niall’s hair. Niall was still too far gone to even pay attention to what Liam was saying, let alone react to it.

“We’ll see,” Paul hummed. “I’m on my way now.”

“Thank you,” Liam sighed, hanging up the phone.

“No doctor?” Niall whimpered.

Liam smiled lightly down at him. “No, love. No doctor. Just Paul.”

Niall relaxed a little at that. Even though he wouldn’t admit it, things really had been easier since Paul found out. They didn’t have to make up weak excuses for everything anymore. The other boys just couldn’t believe they hadn’t thought of telling Paul earlier.

Five minutes later, Paul finally came in the door. He took one look at Niall’s red-rimmed eyes and smiled sympathetically at both of them. “I brought you your brace, Niall,” he said, holding it up as he walked toward the couch.

Niall whined and turned his head into the back of the couch as he realized he was only wearing a t-shirt and his nappy. Liam and Paul made quick work of fixing the brace around his knee.

“The others already know. They should be bringing him some sweatpants or something. I talked to Zay—“

Paul was cut off by Zayn barging into the room with the “baby bag” slung over his shoulder. He was by Niall’s side in the blink of an eye, already glancing over him worriedly.

“What happened?” Zayn demanded, already helping Niall to sit up.

Liam rolled his eyes. Lately Zayn had amped up the whole over-protective thing, claiming the other boys were being too careless, especially now that they were on tour and Niall was almost always in his headspace. “He just fell, Zayn. It’s his bad knee again, and there’s not much we can do.”

“He just fell?” Zayn said incredulously.

Paul raised his eyebrows at the scene and slowly back out of the room. “I’ll just leave you to it, then. Remember to be careful, Niall, please. That knee has to last the rest of the tour, yeah?”

“We’ll keep an eye out, Paul. Thanks,” Liam said as he left the room.

Zayn was on the ground in front of Niall, helping him into some sweatpants that wouldn’t be such a pain to get on and off. Liam couldn’t help but roll his eyes again as he saw that Niall had started crying just as hard as before again, no doubt playing it up for Zayn.

“Hurts, Baba,” Niall wailed, and Zayn was quick to stand and pull Niall into his arms.

“I know, love,” Zayn said, pacing around the room. After a few laps, Zayn sat on the couch with Niall in his lap. He pulled Niall’s blanket and a bottle out of the bag on the floor and also handed Ty to Niall. He began to give the bottle to Niall, and Liam watched as Niall fought to keep his eyes open. He got into their first aid kit and grabbed out some Tylenol to give to Niall. He handed them to Zayn, and ignored the disapproving look he got when Zayn noticed that they were the nighttime ones.

“We don’t have anything else, so unless you want him to wake up in pain, he can have those. It’s nap time anyway, and there’s still seven hours until the show. It’ll be fine,” Liam said, not giving Zayn a chance to refuse. 

“He’s all yours when he wakes up tired and cranky then,” Zayn muttered to Liam. “Here, baby, take some medicine to make your ouchy feel better, yeah?” Zayn cooed to a half-asleep Niall. Niall slowly opened his mouth and accepted the pills before beginning to suck on the bottle again. When the bottle was gone, Zayn stood and laid Niall on the couch. He covered him with the blanket and kissed him on the forehead before sitting down in a different chair and waiting for Louis to show up with lunch.

Liam was ready to smack himself not even ten minutes after Niall woke up from his nap. Not even because Niall was cranky and clingy and irritable (which he was all of those things), but because once again Zayn was right. And all Liam could do was glare at Zayn’s smug face as he tried everything to stop Niall from whining about everything.

“Daddy,” Niall whined into Liam’s neck.

“Yes, Niall?” Liam said with as much patience he could.

“I wanna go home,” Niall cried.

Harry and Louis snickered behind their hands, already having gotten the rundown from Zayn. Liam shot them his most evil look and went back to trying to soothe Niall. There was no way they could have him going on stage like this, big Niall or not.

“Oh, you don’t mean that, Ni,” Liam murmured to him. “We’re going to play music for a lot of our fans tonight. You love that, don’t you?”

“Tired though, Daddy,” Niall whimpered.

Liam sighed, still regretting the decision to give Niall night time medicine in the middle of the day. Liam went to set Niall down so that he could make Niall another bottle, but Niall wasn’t having it. “No! Don’t leave me,” Niall cried, grasping Liam’s shirt tightly in his hands.

Liam looked up hopefully at the other boys but they were all conveniently busy. “I’m not leaving you, babe. Just going to get you a bottle, yeah?” Liam assured him, loosening Niall’s fingers from his shirt. “A little help, lads?” Liam said exasperatedly.

“No can do, Liam. Sorry,” Zayn said, flipping a page in his book.

“So you’re just going to sit there and listen to him cry then?” Liam demanded.

Harry finally sighed and stood up, going to pick Niall up and relieve Liam for a few minutes. “Softie,” Zayn mumbled.

“Says the one that freaks if he looks like he might be starting to get a cold,” Harry shot back. Zayn rolled his eyes this time. “Go get him a bottle, I’ll take care of him,” Harry said to Liam, kissing Niall’s hair a few times.

“Thank you,” Liam breathed. He was usually the one to have everything under control, but he felt it slipping now that Niall was tired, in pain, grouchy, anxious, and probably hungry since he’d slept through lunch.

“Hi, lovely,” Harry cooed as Niall looked up at him with stray tears falling down his face. “Daddy’s just getting you a bottle; doesn’t that sound nice, hmm?” Harry smiled, thumbing at the tears on his cheeks.

“Not leaving me, Papa?” Niall asked pitifully, burying his face in Harry’s shoulder.

Harry shook his head. “No, definitely not. None of us could leave you if we wanted to.”

“Kay,” Niall said, seeming to accept the answer.

Liam came back a few minutes later and started to take Niall from Harry, but Harry shook his head. Liam raised his eyebrows but handed Harry the bottle anyway.

“Remember, we have two hours until show and one until we’re supposed to be in hair and makeup,” Liam said, avoiding telling Harry not to let Niall sleep because it just sounded bad to him.

Harry nodded and arranged Niall so that he was sitting up most of the way to drink his bottle, somehow managing to keep Niall awake through it.

 

The concert was a disaster, to put it lightly. Obviously the fans still enjoyed it, but since Niall had hurt his knee, he ended up having to sit down on the steps onstage the entire time. When he began to get antsy, one of them would go and pick Niall up bridal style and carry him around for a minute or two before putting him back down. That seemed to keep Niall from having a melt down on stage, and by the end of the concert that was all the boys wanted.

As soon as the show was over, the boys were out of the venue and on the bus in record time. Louis immediately carried Niall to the back to change his clothes, speaking softly to Niall even as he fell asleep on his shoulder. Harry and Liam were at the very back of the bus in the lounge room putting the pieces of the couch together to make the huge bed in the back where they all sometimes slept. And Zayn was getting some more Tylenol PM, except this time, Niall could have a full night’s sleep. As soon as they were all changed and settled down, Louis laid Niall in the center of the huge couch bed in the back. The other boys climbed in around him, and they were all asleep in minutes.


	19. Chapter Nineteen

“Daddy,” Niall called, rubbing at his eyes as he wandered through the bunk part of the bus.

“Good morning, love,” Liam said from the couch in the main part of the bus, opening his arms for Niall when he saw him. Niall sat in Liam’s lap and cuddled into his chest sleepily.

“Where we at?” Niall asked quietly. He couldn’t seem to keep up with what city they were in, especially now that they were well into the tour.

“Manchester,” Liam said, kissing the top of Niall’s head. “An even better question would be, where are your crutches?” He asked, gently scolding Niall. He wasn’t supposed to be walking without them except for when they were on stage as his knee was still healing from his little fall a few weeks ago.

“I’m sorry,” Niall said, looking up at Liam slowly to see if he was really mad.

“What’s the rule?” Liam asked, raising his eyebrow at him.

“Can’t walk without crutches except during a concert,” Niall sighed. “But I don’t like them, Daddy,” he whined a little as he finished.

“I know, angel. So when we’re on the bus you can call for someone, and we’ll carry you, yeah?” Liam said sympathizing with him. He knew it wasn’t easy to maneuver around the cluttered and somewhat cramped bus, especially with crutches. He felt bad that Niall had to have them all the time, but at least it did seem like his knee was getting better.

“I know,” Niall said, leaning back into Liam.

“Good boy,” Liam smiled. “You need a change?”

“Yes please,” Niall said. That was a new thing- Niall didn’t seem to be as shy about the basic things like nappy changes. It made things a lot easier for all of the boys, especially now that they were on the road.

“Alright, let’s get you fixed up,” Liam said, picking Niall up and heading for the back room where all of Niall’s “baby stuff” was. He changed Niall quickly as he babbled on about his dreams that night before leaving the room and sitting back down where they came from

“Where’s everyone else?” Niall asked after a few minutes.

“Baba and Papa went home since the concert isn’t till tomorrow. And Dada is with Eleanor, remember?” Liam said, keeping his tone light to not upset Niall.

“Why?” Niall asked plainly. Liam groaned internally. Lately Niall had picked up the habit of asking “why” to everything. Liam knew it was a typical toddler thing but he was still hoping it would pass eventually. Hopefully sooner than later.

“We already talked about this, Ni, remember?” Liam said, keeping his voice calm. “They miss their families and friends just like you do sometimes.”

“They don’t wanna spend time with me,” Niall said sadly.

Liam sighed. “Yes they do, baby. They spend time with you every day. And today we get to have a Daddy and Niall day, yeah?”

“Oh,” Niall said, sounding half as enthused as Liam imagined he’d be.

“We’ll have lots of fun,” Liam said, tickling Niall’s sides.

“Okay, okay, Daddy!” Niall squealed, trying to squirm off of Liam’s lap.

“You want some breakfast?” Liam chuckled, stopping his fingers.

“Yes!” Niall exclaimed, hopping off of Liam.

“Pancakes or waffles?” Liam asked playfully, picking Niall up and carrying him the short distance to the little kitchen. “Remember, no walking,” Liam said, kissing Niall’s nose.

“Waffles,” Niall giggled.

“Okay, angel,” Liam said, looking through the cabinets with Niall still in his arms.

“You’re being too nice,” Niall said accusingly, pursing his lips and poking Liam’s face.

“Hmm. You want me to be mean?” Liam hummed.

“No!” Niall insisted. “Can I help make waffles?” Niall asked, bouncing in Liam’s arms.

“Of course,” Liam grinned, getting out a big bowl to put the waffle mix in. Niall squeaked excitedly, hitting at Liam’s shoulders to get him to set him down- something that he normally would probably get a smacked bum for. “You can either be carried and help or sit down and wait for me to make them. Either way is fine,” Liam said patiently.

“No, I wanna help,” Niall said, clinging to Liam’s shoulders. “Sorry.”

“I’m not mad, babe. Here you can mix,” Liam said, setting Niall on the counter next to the bowl. “But don’t get down, alright?”

“Yeah,” Niall said, already distracted by stirring the waffle mix. Once Niall was finished, Liam simply put the batter into the waffle maker. Niall clapped when he heard it beep. “Daddy, it’s done!”

“I hear that. I’ll get it out for you,” Liam said, getting a plate and syrup out.

When he was done, he set the plate on the table and put Niall on the bench seat to eat. Niall swung his legs as he chewed happily, making happy chatter with Liam. After they both finished, Liam took the dishes and put them in the sink. He smiled as he thought about how annoyed Zayn would be to come back to the bus to dirty dishes.

“Alright,” Liam said, turning around to face Niall. “What are we gonna do now?”

“Hmm,” Niall hummed, tapping his chin thoughtfully. “I think we should play, Daddy.”

Liam smiled and picked Niall up, swinging him onto his hip. If you would have asked him the first week they did this, he would’ve said that carrying Niall was never going to get easier, but now that he was training on the road and he’d had a lot of practice carrying Niall around, he did it almost thoughtlessly. He had definitely mastered the skill of doing it with ease far before the other boys did. Right before Liam was about to ask Niall about what toys he wanted to play with he got an idea. The last time they were in Manchester they’d been to a nice, private little park that was just down the road from where they were now.

“Hey, Ni, how about we get out of the bus for a while, hmm? It’s nice out, and I know a park we can go to,” Liam suggested. “I’ll push you on the swings.”

“I gotta take my crutches?” Niall asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

“I’m afraid so, angel. But we’ll drive there,” Liam said, kissing the side of his head. “We don’t have to go if you don’t want to. It was just an idea,” he prompted.

“No, I wanna go,” Niall insisted. He wanted to get out of the bus just as much as Liam.

“Alright, let’s get you dressed then,” Liam said, carrying him to the bunks so that he could set Niall down while he searched for clothes.

“Daddy, I don’t wanna wear jeans,” Niall said, hugging Ty to his chest as he watched Liam look through a bag for clothes.

“Okay, love,” Liam said, not looking up. He sighed in exasperation as he continued looking through the suitcase, cursing whoever had last gotten Niall dressed.

“Niall, who dressed you yesterday?” Liam asked patiently.

“Ummm,” Niall thought, pursing his lips, “Dada I think.”

Louis. Of course it was Louis that left everything an unorganized mess. “Huh. Well I don’t think he’ll be doing that anymore since he can’t put things away correctly,” Liam muttered. He finally pulled out a pair of hopefully-clean sweats and the only t-shirt that wasn’t wrinkled. He dressed Niall in them quickly and combed his hair before deciding they were ready to go. He picked Niall up and carried him to the Range Rover they had outside, placing him in the backseat carefully and making sure to grab his crutches before driving to the park. As Liam thought, the park was only a couple minutes down the road, and they arrived quickly.

“Alright, babe, we’re here,” Liam said, turning off the car as he looked around at the deserted little park. He was pleased to see that there wasn’t anyone there, probably because it was the midmorning on a school day. He helped Niall out of the car and onto his crutches, watching as he immediately took off toward the swings. Liam shook his head fondly and walked to catch up with Niall. He was still amazed at how quickly the boy could move on the crutches.

“Daddy, push me,” Niall said, sitting on the swing and laying his crutches next to him. “Please,” Niall said as an after thought, smiling up innocently at his Daddy

Liam smiled at Niall’s cuteness and complied with his request. Niall surprisingly stayed on the swings for close to fifteen minutes, squealing every time Liam pushed him hard enough to go high. It was long enough that by the time Niall was ready to stop, Liam’s arms felt slightly limp at having exerted them for such a long time. He slowly brought Niall to a complete stop and watched with amusement as Niall stuck his tongue out in determination at getting back on his crutches on the uneven mulch.

“Daddy, help me, please,” Niall whined, starting to give up.

Liam quickly bent down to help Niall stand, sensing the distress in his voice. “You have such nice manners today, Niall,” Liam cooed at him as he helped him to more level ground.

“Tryin’ to be good,” Niall said, going over to a bench to sit down.

“You’re always good, Ni. Always my angel,” Liam said, sitting next to him and throwing his arm around Niall, pulling him into his chest. “But I appreciate you being on your best behavior. We’re having a very nice day together,” Liam said to him.

“Yeah,” Niall said, rubbing his face into Liam’s chest. “But can we get food?”

Liam chuckled at Niall’s short attention span. “Yeah, babe, what do you want to eat?”

“McDonald’s?” Niall asked, looking up at him hopefully. Lately Liam had been on a health kick and that included eating only nutritional foods. Much to Niall’s dismay, McDonald’s was not on the list of healthy foods.

“I suppose you can have it as a treat since you’ve been my good boy today,” Liam said, kissing Niall’s nose and watching his face light up.

“Thank you!” Niall said, already getting up and making his way to the car. Liam quickly followed after him, helping him into the backseat and driving off the the nearest McDonald’s. He was grateful that they had been in Manchester so many times that he generally knew his way around.

“What do you want, babe?” Liam asked as they pulled into the drive through.

“Nuggets and Big Mac and fries, please. With Coke,” Niall said, clearly ready to order.

“How about Sprite?” Liam suggested. “It’s almost naptime.”

Niall whined at the mention of a nap but agreed anyway, not wanting Liam to change his mind before he got food.

Liam hesitantly ordered all of the food Niall had requested, reminding himself that this was a one-time thing and Niall’s diet wouldn’t be ruined because of one meal. He paid for the food and set it in the passenger seat before driving away and back to the bus.

“Can I have fries?” Niall asked, bouncing in his seat a little bit.

“No, love. We’ll be back to the bus in a few minutes,” Liam said, not taking his eyes off the road.

Niall pouted and then remembered what had gotten him everything else throughout the day. “Please?” Niall asked innocently.

Liam looked at Niall in the rearview mirror. “No, Niall. I don’t want a mess in the backseat, baby,” Liam sighed. “And I’m driving.”

Niall huffed and crossed his arms, kicking the back of Liam’s seat with his good leg. He was mostly testing Liam to see how far he could go before Liam got angry with him, especially since he’d been weirdly nice all day.

“Niall James,” Liam warned, wanting to stop what was looking like a tantrum early. He knew Niall was probably tired and hungry and that those were probably fueling the small tantrum.

“Not fair. I’m hungry,” Niall whined, kicking the seat in front of him again.

“I’m going to pretend like you didn’t just kick my seat again,” Liam said, really trying to stay patient.

Niall was getting frustrated with Liam’s lack of response to his behavior and kicked the seat one more time, just as they turned into the lot where the bus was.

Liam once again ignored it, even though he was fuming in his head. He picked Niall up and totally blocked out his kicks and hits as he carried him onto the bus and to the designated time out spot.

“We’ve had a lovely day, and I don’t want to spank you, so I’m going to let you sit here and calm down while I finish putting lunch on plates. When I come back, I expect that you’ll be ready to be nice again. Do you understand?” Liam lectured lowly.

Niall pouted but nodded, leaning against the wall as he began to regret his actions. His Daddy had been so nice all day, and he was right- they did have a lovely day. And Niall had to go and ruin it just like he did everything else. Niall angrily wiped away the tears that he’d unknowingly allowed to escape, sniffling a few times to compose himself before Liam came back.

Liam frowned from the other side of the room as he heard Niall sniffle. He had put Niall in time out for the sole purpose of him calming down, not getting worked up again. He finished emptying the nuggets onto a plate and squirted some ketchup next to them before going to get Niall from where he was sat. Liam picked Niall up and bounced him on his hip slightly as he shushed him. Niall was still only lightly crying, but Liam didn’t like it anyway.

“Sorry I ruined our day,” Niall mumbled into Liam’s neck. “Didn’t mean to be bad,” he said, his voice cracking on the last word.

“Oh, Ni,” Liam breathed, kissing his head. “You didn’t, love. And you weren’t bad, you just made a little mistake. And it wasn’t a big deal, so we fixed it. I already forgive you. I’m not mad,” Liam assured him, pulling back to wipe the last few tears from Niall’s face. He smiled at him before kissing both cheeks. “See? All better,” Liam said with a smile. “And I believe we have food to eat.”

Niall grinned as he remembered the McDonald’s. Liam took him to the table where everything was already on plates and ready to eat. Niall sat and ate happily, starting to nod off as he got tired when he was full. Liam quickly picked him up before he fell asleep at the table, taking him back to the bunks. He laid Nial down and tucked him in with Ty and his blanket before kissing him on the forehead.

“Daddy, stay with me,” Niall mumbled sleepily.

Liam cooed at him, and couldn’t help but comply. “I love you, angel,” he said, continuing to kiss his hair

“Love you more, Daddy.”


	20. Chapter Twenty

Niall had been grouchy all day. It didn’t matter what it was; he complained about the food that Harry had fixed for breakfast which made no sense to any of them since Harry made pancakes and Niall loved pancakes; he whined about having to take a nap and was apparently actually stubborn enough to lay awake in his crib until one of the boys came to get him, and by then it was redundant to force him to take a nap because then he wouldn’t sleep during the night; he’d already had two timeouts throughout the day, both clearly having no effect on him; and now it was bath time and Niall was about 30 seconds from a full on tantrum.   
“Not time to take a bath yet,” Niall said, crossing his arms and kicking one of his legs from his place on the couch.   
“I understand that it’s not the way things usually go, but I’m the Daddy and I say that bath time is now,” Liam said lowly, trying to remain calm. They had all decided that since Niall hadn’t taken a nap today and was clearly tired that they should give him a bath before dinner so that he could go to bed straight after they ate. At this point, Liam was ready to just put him to bed without a bath or dinner.   
“I say no,” Niall said defiantly, turning his head to look back at the TV.  
Liam let out a long, frustrated breath before Zayn decided to intervene.  
“Niall, the way that you’re behaving right now is not okay,” Zayn lectured, crouching down in front of Niall and gripping his chin to move his face so that Niall would look at him. “We can go and have a pleasant bath or it will be fast with no toys and a timeout afterward.” Zayn offered. He thought that it was good for Niall to know his choices before he was punished, and he’d always talked through things with him whenever Niall started to act up. Usaully after Niall was informed of what the consequences of his actions would be, he would stop and become far more compliant. Other times, like now apparently, he seemed to have no regard for what the consequences were, especially when he was in a bad mood.   
“No timeout!” Niall immediately protested.   
“I gave you your choices, love,” Zayn reminded him.   
Niall took a few angry breaths, his chest rising and falling quickly before muttering, “Don’t want a bath.”  
“That’s fine. You’re still going to have one if you want it or not,” Zayn said simply, picking Niall up easily. “And then you’ll have a timeout after during the time you could be playing with your bath toys,” he informed him calmly, already making his way to the stairs after giving Liam a look to assure him that he could handle the situation.   
“No, Baba!” Niall screeched, thrashing in Zayn’s arms as he tried to get down. Zayn just tightened his grip on Niall and shook his head as he continued up the stairs.   
“Niall, stop,” Zayn said sternly. “I don’t want to drop you.”  
“Don’t care,” Niall huffed, still wiggling around in Zayn’s arms.  
Zayn finally made it to the bathroom adjacent to the nursery, shutting the door behind him as he set Niall down in front of him. “You’re not making very good choices today,” Zayn commented as he turned on the water and began to get Niall out of his clothes.   
Niall had the biggest scowl on his face that Zayn had ever seen, but Zayn ignored it, proceeding to take off Niall’s nappy. “You’ve only gone potty once today,” Zayn realized outloud, tossing the dry diaper in the trash anyway. Niall didn’t respond , instead only deepening his scowl and crossing his arms over his bare chest. “Niall why are you making that ugly face?” Zayn sighed.  
“Not makin’ a face,” Niall grumbled. Zayn sighed again and dropped it knowing that he wasn’t going to get anything out of Niall.   
Zayn stuck his hand in the water to check the temperature before carefully lifting Niall into the tub. Niall was no help at all as he glared at the wall in front of him, forcing Zayn to manoeuvre his body instead of cooperating.   
“Niall, I’m five seconds from having Daddy come and punish you however he sees fit,” Zayn said exasperatedly after Niall refused to put his head back so that Zayn could wash his hair. Zayn was just getting frustrated because Niall was being difficult for no foreseeable reason and because bath time was usually his favorite part of the day.   
Niall whined but leaned back anyway to allow Zayn to wash his hair. Even though he wouldn’t admit it, he was quickly becoming tired, especially of putting up a fight all day. It was exhausting and made him realize how easy life was when he listened to his daddies and let them take care of him. Niall couldn’t help that he’d just woken up in a bad mood, but it only got worse throughout the day as he had timeouts. He didn’t know why, but there was just something about the loneliness he felt in timeout that made him wish that he’d just been spanked instead.   
The thing was, Zayn was sure that Liam or Louis would have spanked Niall by now today, but per Zayn and Harry’s request, they were experimenting with just timeouts. They all knew that he’d always hated timeout; he had since the first time he’d ever had one. What they all couldn’t wrap their heads around was why Niall was continuing to misbehave if he hated the punishment so much. But they remained determined and outlasted Niall.  
Zay quickly finished giving Niall his bath and drained the tub as soon as he was done. Zayn helped Niall stand up and get out of the tub before grabbing his frog towel and beginning to dry his hair with it.  
“No, stop!” Niall whined, hitting out at Zayn blindly as the towel was over his eyes.  
Niall had officially worn down all of Zayn’s patience for the day. Zayn spun him around and smacked his bum once before turning him back around to finish drying him off. He knew that it was probably louder than how much it actually hurt, but that was still the first time that he had smacked Niall for real. Niall realized this as well, and immediately stopped fighting. He looked at he feet and blinked back his tears while Zayn none-too-gently dried him and dressed him in his pajamas. He wanted to speak up and ask if he could have different pajamas because these ones were itchy and made him too hot, but he decided that now wasn’t a good time to say anything.  
“Right, timeout now,” Zayn said, breaking the silence and picking Niall up. He carried him downstairs and immediately set him in the chair in the corner of the dining room that had been used so frequently that day that no one had even bothered to return it to its actual place. “I’ll get you when dinner is ready,” Zayn said, leaving him without a kiss or a hug. He really hadn’t meant to, he was just tired and wasn’t thinking.   
Niall, however, noticed. His lip wobbled and his breathing became more shallow as time went on. He grew increasingly upset as his loneliness and guilt set in at the same time. Harry frowned as he watched him from the kitchen. This was the first time he seemed to be upset by a timeout today, and Harry, as well as the other boys, hated to see him upset. Harry set down the spoon he was using to stir the sauce he was making and made his way to the living room.   
“Papa, I have my dummy, please?” Niall whimpered, turning around as Harry walked by.   
Harry’s heart broke a little at Niall’s red-rimmed eyes, and he fought the urge to pick him up and cuddle him. “Of course, baby,” Harry said, running his fingers through Niall’s hair once before turning to retrieve the dummy from the cabinet. He returned quickly and slid the dummy between Niall’s lips. Niall immediately began sucking on it quickly, blinking rapidly to keep the tears from spilling out. He had found that he really did like the dummy better than his fingers, but he really only used it when he was upset.   
He pulled his knees into his chest and his his face in them, hugging himself because he knew he wasn’t allowed to have Ty with him in timeout. He felt so alone staring at the wall in front of him and sitting on a hard chair for any amount of time.  
After what felt like hours to Niall, but was really only about 15 minutes, Harry came and picked him up from the chair. Niall immediately buried his face into his shoulder and clung to him and couldn’t help it when a few tears leaked from his eyes. “It’s alright,” Harry whispered in his ear. “You’re okay.”  
Niall didn’t respond and tried not to react when he was set in his high chair. He really wanted to sit in one if his daddies laps but he decided to stay quiet and attempt to not make any of them more angry with him. Harry removed the dummy from Niall’s mouth and put it in his pocket for the duration of dinner. Niall picked at his food when it was set in front of him and jumped when Liam addressed him.   
“Niall please stop playing with your food. The faster you eat, the earlier you can go to bed,” Liam said pointedly.   
“Not hungry,” Niall said quietly, afraid to speak up. It was really a lie, especially considering he’d barely eaten anything all day, but Niall really didn’t feel like eating now.   
Liam got ready to say something, but Louis cut him off. “I’ll take him to bed,” he said, standing to go make a bottle. Louis came back quickly and took Niall out of the high chair. Harry stood up before they left the room.   
“Goodnight, sweetheart,” Harry said, kissing the side of Niall’s head. “I love you.”  
“Love you,” Niall whispered back, wishing that Daddy and Baba would have done the same. He laid his head on Louis’ shoulder and allowed himself to be carried upstairs. Louis sat down in the rocking chair in the corner of the room and made sure Niall was comfortable before giving him his bottle.   
“What’s up today, huh?” Louis asked him softly and stroked the side of his face.   
Niall teared up and for some reason found himself trusting Louis enough to tell him what he was thinking. “Hate timeout,” Niall mumbled.   
Louis looked at him curiously before saying, “Babe, you’re not supposed to like it.”  
“Hate it more than spanking,” Niall whimpered.   
Now Louis was really confused. That just didn’t make sense. “What do you mean? Why?”   
“Don’t wanna be alone with no cuddles. Don’t even have Ty,” Niall sniffled, tears starting to fall again.   
Louis frowned and wiped some of his tears away. Timeout was supposed to be a punishment, and Louis didn’t want him to be playing with toys while he was there, but they all knew that Ty was different. And the last thing Louis wanted was for Niall to be miserable.   
“Oh, lovey. Why didn’t you tell anyone you felt like that?” Louis asked him ever so gently.   
“Don’t know,” Niall said, his voice breaking toward the end. “I’m sorry,” he sobbed.   
“Darling, it’s okay,” Louis cooed, pulling him up so that he was sitting in Louis’ lap.   
“And Baba and Daddy not say they love Niall and Baba know I hate these pajamas cause I’m all itchy and he still put ‘em on me and nappy is wet now and I’m too bad,” Niall wailed, finally letting everything out. They had started to notice that when Niall got especially worked up, his grammar and speech would become much worse.   
“Baby, baby, Niall,” Louis hushed him. He had no idea Niall was feeling that way, and he just wanted to make it all go away. “That’s a whole lot of upset for a little boy. Let’s fix this one thing at a time, yeah?” Louis stood up and walked to the changing table to change his nappy. He figured that was the quickest and easiest problem to tackle. He did that quickly, wincing at how full the nappy was. He couldn’t imagine how long Niall had been holding it.   
Once that was done, he carefully took Niall’s pajamas off and threw them to the side, going to the dresser to pull out Niall’s favorite monkey pajamas. He was still sniffling and crying, but the sobbing had at least calmed down. He then picked Niall up and took him downstairs, kissing his face and talking to him the whole way.   
“What happened?” Zayn gasped as soon as he saw Niall’s tear-streaked face. He stood up and took Niall out of Louis’ arms, swaying side to side with him.   
“Niall wanted to say goodnight again,” Louis said, raising an eyebrow at Zayn and Liam. He gave them all a look as if to say that they would discuss it later.   
“Okay,” Zayn said slowly. “Goodnight, baby. I bet you’re tired, huh? Didn’t have a nap today, did you?” Zayn cooed, rubbing Niall’s back. “I love you, Ni,” he said. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before. Even when it seems like I’m angry with you, I always love you,” Zayn said, kissing his forehead before Liam took Niall from him.   
“I love you, my angel,” Liam said quietly in his ear.   
“Sorry,” Niall mumbled sleepily, beginning to relax now that he knew all of his daddies loved him.   
“I know you are. It’s all forgiven, love,” Liam said.   
Louis easily took Niall back from Liam and started his way back upstairs after getting Niall’s dummy back from Harry. Niall opened his mouth like a fish when he saw that Louis had it. Louis chuckled softly before putting it in the boy’s mouth. Niall was mostly asleep in Louis’ arms by the time they got to the nursery, so Louis went to lay him down in his crib. Niall started to fuss, but Louis hushed him and put Ty in his arms before he could start crying.   
Louis looked down at him and smiled softly, running his fingers through Niall’s hair and humming a little. He was so filled with love for both little and big Niall. There wasn’t a day that went by that made him, or any of them, regret their decision.


	21. Chapter Twenty One

It was their last day of break before heading to America, and Niall wasn’t ready to say the least. He had woken up in a great mood. The only problem way that he was being extra clingy, and all of the boys were trying to pack. On top of packing their own bags, they had to make sure that they had packed anything and everything Niall could possibly need in the next four months that they would be out of the country. It wouldn’t be quite as easy to have things shipped to them as they were going to be in a different city virtually every day, so they’d had to order an outrageous amount of nappies for Niall while they could. There was actually an entire suitcase dedicated to Niall’s baby things.

“Niall, love, can you please just sit on the bed and play while Dada packs,” Louis sighed, setting Niall down again.

Niall pouted and decided to watch Louis pack instead. He was bored of playing, as backwards as that sounded. He had been all morning. Packing was boring even though he wasn’t the one doing it. All of his daddies were stressed and didn’t have much time to play with Niall. They would occasionally take breaks to be with him, but Niall was wanting extra attention for some reason today.

Meanwhile, Liam was making his way to Niall’s room. He was regretting what he was going to do, but it wasn’t too often that Niall let go of Ty, and he planned to take advantage of it. He was about to do one last load of laundry, and he’d remembered that it was probably best to wash Niall’s bear since they might not be able to for a while. Besides, it had been at least a month since they’d washed it, and Liam wanted to lessen the chances of Niall getting sick while they were in America by washing all of his things that were always in his face and were subsequently germy.

He grabbed the bear from the ground where Niall had left it this morning and quickly made his way back to the laundry room. He tossed it into the washer and sighed, hoping that Niall wouldn’t notice it was gone. He walked back upstairs and was heading to his own room to finish packing when he heard Niall call him from Louis’ open door.

“Daddy,” Niall said when he saw Liam walk past. He was hoping that maybe he was done packing and he would cuddle with Niall.

Liam took a few steps backwards and smiled at Niall. “Yes?” he asked him.

Niall just lifted his arms in response, and Liam chuckled, going to pick him up from Louis’ bed. Niall laid his head down on Liam’s shoulder, and let out a disappointed whine when he found himself being set down on Liam’s bed. “No, Daddy, cuddle,” Niall whined, lifting his arms again.

“Just give me a few minutes, babe, then we can cuddle,” Liam promised, kissing Niall’s forehead. Niall huffed and got down from the bed deciding to go into his own room. He stopped in Louis’ room along the way and got his toys that he’d left on the bed before unhappily going into his room next door. He sat down and played with his cars and Legos, but he was still bored so he got out some paper to color on.

After a while, Niall’s stomach started to hurt, and he knew he needed to use his nappy. He frowned, but at this point he’d gotten used to it, even though the whole changing thing was still a little embarrassing. It was okay, though, because he always had Ty when he was being changed. He dropped his toys and concentrated for a second before getting up to go tell someone he needed a change.

“Baba?” Niall asked, peeking into Zayn’s room.

“Yes, baby?” Zayn asked, looking up at him.

“Need change, please,” Niall said shyly.

“Okay, love,” Zayn said, putting down everything so he could help Niall. He took his hand and lead Niall back to his own room. Zayn lifted him up to put him on the changing table right as Niall remembered he needed Ty.

“Forgot Ty,” Niall gasped, squirming to get out of Zayn’s arms. Zayn smiled and let him down, watching as the other boy looked around for his bear. “Don’t see him,” Niall said, his voice full of worry.

“I’ll go look downstairs for him, baby. Why don’t you go ask your other daddies, hmm?” Zayn suggested, going to check in the living room for the bear. Niall nodded and went to go ask if anyone had seen Ty.

“Papa, have you seen Ty?” Niall asked, already looking around Harry’s room.

“Sorry, Ni. I haven’t seen him,” Harry said.

Niall frowned, but moved onto the next room anyway.

“Dada, do you know where Ty is?” Niall asked, looking under the bed.

“Sorry, babe, I haven’t seen him,” Louis said apologetically.

“That’s okay, I go ask Daddy,” Niall said, running off awkwardly. “Daddy, I can’t find Ty,” Niall said tiredly.

Liam froze for a second, but regained his composure. “He’s having a bath, love,” Liam said as calmly as possible. Niall’s face was blank for a moment before Liam’s words sunk in.

“You drown him,” Niall said accusingly, his eyes filling with tears.

“No I didn’t. He’s fine. I just put him in the drier a minute ago,” Liam said, trying to reassure him.

“I need him now,” Niall whined, shifting as his full nappy was starting to become uncomfortable.

“He’ll be done in a little while. Why do you need him now?” Liam asked, but Zayn came in before Niall could answer.

“Did you find him, babe?” Zayn asked.

“Daddy give him a bath,” Niall said, turning on the waterworks now that Zayn was there. Liam rolled his eyes, but Zayn pulled Niall in to hug him.

“Aw, love. It’s alright, we’ll just grab on of your other animals so I can change you, and then it’s naptime anyway,” Zayn said, rubbing his back.

“No, need Ty,” Niall sniffled.

“You’re not just going to sit in a messy nappy. I don’t want you getting a rash,” Zayn said.

“Waiting for Ty,” Niall said, pulling himself away from Zayn and going to lay down on his floor while he waited for Ty to be done getting a bath.

“Niall, aren’t you uncomfortable?” Zayn sighed, trying again from the doorway of Niall’s room. He wasn’t about to fight with a stubborn and tired Niall, so he figured trying to reason with him was a better option.

“More uncomfortable without Ty,” Niall said defiantly, rolling onto his side away from Zayn.

“If you change your mind, you know where to find me,” Zayn said exasperatedly.

Niall shifted around on the floor. It was awful to have a messy, full, and smelly nappy. Everything was starting to be sore, but he couldn’t be changed without Ty. He never had been since the first couple of days, and he didn’t plan on going back to that embarrassment. He couldn’t stop his tears from coming back, and he couldn’t deny that he was tired. It was his naptime, after all, and it was hard to have interruptions in his strict schedule. It only took him about half an hour to crack.

“Baba,” Niall cried from the floor of his room.

Zayn smiled slightly to himself as he heard Niall calling him. He quickly got up and went to Niall’s room, bending down to pick him up and placing him on the changing table. Niall hid his face in his arms, but Zayn tried not to pay any attention. He instead focused on cleaning Niall up and stopping the rash that had started.

“It feels so much better to be clean, doesn’t it baby?” Zayn cooed at him, trying to make him feel better.

“Want Ty,” Niall cried.

“I know, sweetheart, but you’re being such a brave boy for me right now,” Zayn said, bending to get a new nappy out for Niall. Niall didn’t reply, and Zayn worked on quickly finishing up. Once he was done, he picked Niall up again and started to take him to his crib, but Niall just clung to him.

“Can’t sleep without Ty,” Niall whimpered, and Zayn sighed, rubbing circles into his back. He decided to let Niall nap with him since he could use a good hour of sleep as well anyway. Maybe Niall would think he was a good enough replacement for his bear.

“Lay down in Baba’s bed,” Zayn tried to coax Niall. Niall relaxed slowly and laid back once Zayn laid down next to him.

“Not sleepin’ yet, Baba,” Niall insisted.

“Okay, just close your eyes,” Zayn said. He knew it was silly, but Niall would never know the difference.

“Don’t sleep without Ty,” Niall grumbled, and Zayn sighed again. He wondered how many times Niall was going to remind him of that.

After ten more minutes of Niall whining and refusing to fall asleep, Zayn was ready to kill him. Luckily, Liam came in the room with a fresh-smelling, fluffy teddy bear just before Zayn gave up.

“Ty!” Niall exclaimed, sitting up on his knees and grabbing for the bear.

“What do you say?” Liam asked patiently, holding the bear out of Niall’s reach.

“Please, Daddy, please,” Niall begged. Liam smiled and handed it to him, kissing his cheek and winking at Zayn. Zayn rolled his eyes, but mouthed a “thank you,” to Liam.

“Now it’s time to sleep,” Zayn said. But when he turned around, Niall’s eyes were already closed with his breathing evening out as a sign of him sleeping. Zayn couldn’t help but chuckle at the stubborn boy. It was a good thing he was so cute.


	22. Chapter Twenty Two

“Good morning, Niall,” Liam cooed down at Niall as his eyes flickered open. “It’s time to wake up,” he said, brushing Niall’s hair from still-closed eyes.

“Daddy,” Niall whined, not wanting to get out of his warm bed. He clutched his teddy bear tightly to his chest. Liam expected this, however, and picked Niall up, carrying him over to the changing table.

“Oh, shh,” Liam admonished him gently, knowing that he was tired and whiny in the mornings. “Daddy will just change you and then you can have your juice and nap on the way to the interview, yeah?”

Niall grunted in response as Liam laid him down on the table. He yawned and stretched a little as Liam worked around him to try to change him quickly. They liked to let Niall sleep in until the last second on days that they had to leave especially early. All of the boys would wake up early enough to make sure to get everything together that Niall would need, and then the first one ready, which was usually Liam, would get Niall up and dressed. Liam finished changing Niall into jeans and a t-shirt. Usually they would have time to change once they got to the interview, but today was busy, and it wasn’t supposed to be that long of an interview, so they were staying for the shortest possible time.

“Alright, all done,” Liam said, picking Niall up and looking around the room one last time before making sure Niall had Ty and leaving. He carried Niall downstairs and into the kitchen where Harry was packing some fruit into a container for when Niall was awake enough to eat it. A bottle of juice was sitting next to it, and Liam picked it up, mumbling his thanks to Harry before going to the living room to wait for the driver. He allowed Niall to sleep on his shoulder for a while, and soon the driver arrived at the house. Liam followed everyone out to the car with Niall in his arms still.

He set Niall down in the middle seat before climbing in after him. Now was the hardest part because sometimes Niall easily slept all the way to wherever they were going and sometimes he was awake and grouchy all the way and sometimes he was good and played the entire car ride. Liam sighed in relief when Niall immediately laid his head back on Liam’s shoulder and got comfortable for the ride.

“Do you want your juice now, baby?” Liam asked him quietly.

“Mhm,” Niall said, holding his hand out for his bottle blindly. Liam smiled and handed it to him, kissing his forehead before sitting back for the rest of the ride. Niall sucked tiredly on the bottle, falling asleep again after drinking about half of it. Harry and Zayn also managed to fall asleep while Louis squinted down at his phone, checking e-mails, and Liam watched Niall sleep silently. It was still dark outside since it was about 6:00 in the morning. It was always the worst to be on these morning news shows, but it was also nice to get an early start and end to the day.

Once they arrived at the studio they would be interviewed at, they were told that they had ten minutes to wake up and relax in the car before they would go in to do hair and make-up. They all nodded, and Liam began to wake Niall up again.

“We’re here, babe,” Liam said quietly into Niall’s ear as he gently shook him. Niall sat up and rubbed at his eyes, looking around tiredly. “Finish your juice, and I’ll get your breakfast, okay?” Liam said, handing the half-empty bottle back to Niall. Niall nodded, the bottle already in his mouth. Liam fished the container of fruit out of Niall’s bag, popping off the top and setting it in Niall’s lap. Niall ate pieces of strawberries and pineapple and cantaloupe quickly, watching everyone getting ready to get out of the car. He gave the container and bottle back to Liam when he was done and pulled his phone out of his bag, quickly getting back to “Big Niall” for the interview.

One of the producers came back a few minutes later to gather them for the interview. She lead them down a long hallway to a dressing room. She left them with a smile and a warning that they were live in half an hour. After that, they were all quickly passed around to get everything done in the allotted time. Lou shook her head at the wrinkled state of all of their clothes and quickly passed them off to wardrobe to change. They were all done and ready for the interview in 25 minutes and were quickly shuffled out to the brightly lit stage.

The interview went well, as usual. The boys were always amazed at how different Niall could be during an interview after seeing him as their baby. They always kept a close eye on him just in case, but there hadn’t been any close calls yet. They were all just happy that he was still the same from before when interacting with fans and during concerts and interviews.

When it was over, Louis was chasing Niall down the hallway and toward the dressing room, both of them laughing as they went. Niall, however, was ahead of Louis and kept running past the room. He was halfway between little and big, so not all of his decisions were processed well, which was clear when he ran into an open elevator that someone had just stepped off of. Louis panicked a bit and tried to reach the elevator before the doors closed, but he was a second too late.

“Oh my god,” Louis muttered, already pulling his phone out of his pocket to call someone from security to make sure they knew that Niall had left the floor they were supposed to be on. He quickly went to the next floor down to make sure to get Niall if he got off on that floor. He called Liam as soon as he got there, already cringing at how he would react. Niall was definitely going to be in big trouble for this one, since running off and going to places they were clearly told not to go are not only rules the boys had for him, but rules set by their security team and people from the news studio.

Liam reacted the way Louis expected he would, and Louis quickly assured him that there was already a member of security on each floor of the building just waiting for Niall to get off. A loud PA system crackling interrupted Liam’s lecture, and they both held their breath when they heard what it was saying. 

“We apologize for the inconvenience, but the elevator is temporarily closed due to it being stuck on the third floor. Elevator maintenance will be here within the hour to fix it, but for now, please take the stairs. Thank you.”

“Shit, shit, shit,” Liam muttered repeatedly under his breath, trying to figure out how to keep Niall calm.

“He’s going to be so freaked out, oh my god, what do we do?” Louis asked, starting to get frantic. He looked up and realized that he was on the third floor, meaning Niall was indeed stuck on the elevator.

“I’ll call Niall, and you figure out how to get elevator maintenance to get here as fast as possible,” Liam instructed.

Louis agreed, and Liam immediately called Niall, praying that he would answer and that he wasn’t too far into his headspace yet.

Liam knew that he was screwed when Niall answered the phone. “Daddy,” Niall sobbed.

“Fuck,” Liam mumbled. “Yeah, angel, it’s me,” he said louder so that Niall could hear him.

“I’m scared,” Niall wailed through the phone.

“I know, baby. But there’s people on the way to help, and I’ll stay on the phone with you until I can see you, yeah?” Niall didn’t answer, but Liam could still hear him, so he decided to continue. “Can you tell me what happened, Ni?” Zayn had to ask, just to make sure that it wasn’t Niall’s fault that the elevator had stopped working.

Niall took a big, dramatic breath before starting to tell his story. “Ran into the elevator and heard a boom and it stopped,” Niall cried. “And now it’s dark, too.”

“Alright, babe. Just be brave for me, okay? We’ll get you as soon as we can,” Liam said, making his way down to the next floor to see if Louis had made any progress. He had to hide his smile when he found Louis with his hands on his hips, talking to a woman who looked like she had no idea what to do.

“I’m sorry, but do you know who I am? I’m in that band that was on your show this morning, One Direction? Yeah, and so is my friend that is stuck in the elevator. And we really have places to be and obligations to fulfill, so could you please get your elevator crew here now? I assure you that we can pay any extra fee,” Louis said, and Liam couldn’t decide whether he should step in or not. It was the first time he’d heard any of the boys pull the “I’m in One Direction,” card to get what they want, but in this case, he wasn’t so sure that he wouldn’t have done the same thing.

The lady went from looking perplexed to urgent as she furiously typed a number into her phone, stepping away to talk to whoever it was. She came back and said, “They’re on their way, Mr. Tomlinson. They should be here in about five minutes,” the woman said, looking scared for his reply.

Liam sighed in relief, and jumped when he heard Niall’s voice saying his name in his ear. He’d forgotten that he was still on the phone with Niall, honestly. “Daddy?” Niall asked, making sure Liam was still on the phone.

“Yeah, I’m still here, babe. There’s some people on the way, okay? Just hold on a few more minutes,” Liam said into the phone. He continued to talk with Niall until he finally heard people out by the elevator. There were a few men with big boxes of tools, and Liam felt so relieved when he saw them.

“Thank God,” he muttered, going to stand next to them. Louis had already called Zayn and Harry to let them know what was going on and that the maintenance people were there now. Louis talked to the men as they worked, a reaction to him being nervous. They assured him that it would be fixed in a matter of moments, and they didn’t lie. Soon enough, the elevator was moving again, and Liam could hear Niall gasp as the lights turned back on and he started to move again.

The elevator doors finally opened, and Liam barely had time to hang up his phone before Niall was crashing into him. Niall was acutely aware of the people around them, so he kept everything to a minimum, but he was just happy it was all over. Louis left to go discuss prices and fees with people after making sure Niall was safe, while Liam detached himself from Niall so that they could go be in the privacy of their room.

“If you hadn’t have gotten stuck in that thing, you’d be in trouble, mister,” Liam said, half-jokingly as he pulled Niall into his lap once they reached the dressing room.

“Sorry, Daddy,” Niall said, rubbing his face into Liam’s shoulder tiredly.

“I know you are. Just please don’t run off like that again. You scared all of us. And you,” Liam smiled, kissing the top of Niall’s head.

“I’ll be good,” Niall promised.

“You’re always good,” Liam said, hugging Niall closer to his chest.


	23. Chapter Twenty Three

"Niall, calm down, love," Zayn chuckled as he watched Niall bounce around backstage.

Niall turned around and grinned at him, but then skipped off and hopped on Louis’ back, making him stumble. He laughed as Louis caught his balance and continued to carry him around on his back. Soon enough, Liam came in as back up and picked Niall up off of Louis.  
"Daddy," Niall squealed as Liam carried him over to a couch.

"Niall, it’s time to be a big boy. Can you do that for me? Remember, we talked about it," Liam said sternly, but with slight caution.

Niall sighed and nodded, excited for all that they had planned for the day, but wanting to stay little at the same time.

Liam sighed in relief and kissed Niall’s forehead. “Thank you. Do you need a minute?” Liam asked him, knowing that Niall sometimes needed a moment to himself when coming out of his head space. Niall nodded and got up to go to the bathroom by himself.

By the time he came back, the producers told them that it was time for the show to begin. Niall looked around excitedly, and Zayn and Liam were glad that he seemed to be his normal self, albeit a little more hyper than usual. It didn’t really help that Louis was messing around just as much as Niall, because even though he wasn’t “little Niall,” he still wanted to do everything just like Dada.

~~~~~

“I’m gonna go with…false,” Zayn said unsurely.

“The correct answer is false!” the excited fan from the other side of the world shouted. All of the boys behind him cheered, and Zayn smiled as the chef revealed the food.

“And you get a classic Korean dish…scallion pancakes,” he said proudly.

“Oh nice,” Zayn said distractedly, dipping whatever it was in the sauce before automatically turning to offer Niall some. He didn’t really think about what he was doing; he was just used to offering the always-hungry boy food and thinking of Niall first.

“You want some, babe?” Zayn asked him, knowing his mic was already off as it was now Harry’s turn. Niall leaned down happily to take a bite and smiled widely at Zayn as he chewed. “Good?” he asked before he took a bite himself.

“Mhm,” Niall nodded, already distracted by Harry getting ready to start his game. Soon enough, it was Niall’s turn to go, and Zayn was praying that Niall got the answer right. He was much pickier than people would think, and they would never hear the end of it if he had to eat something disgusting.

But, of course, nothing was on Zayn’s side today, and Niall got his question wrong. Stupid Louis for telling his the wrong answer. Especially when Niall had been doing whatever Louis said these days to be “just like Dada,” as little Niall would say.

But big Niall, the good sport that he is, ate the sheep brain dutifully. They were all jokes and laughs on the outside, but Harry was already moving to distract Niall from the taste. Harry, ever the clean freak, cleaned off his own fork before piling on a bite of fried rice and putting it right in front of Niall’s face.

“Better?” Harry asked as the scowl disappeared from Niall’s face. Niall nodded, still pouting, and they all looked at each other knowing that the rest of the day was doomed.

~~~~~~

"Niall, that’s enough," Liam scolded the thrashing boy in his arms.

"Daddy, put me down," Niall whined, continuing to kick his legs.

"I think you need to go to time out to calm down until we’re done here," Liam said, leaving no room for argument as he carried Niall and deposited him in a chair that was conveniently located in a corner of the room.

Niall crossed his arms and pouted as he watched Liam walk away to get changed and help to get things ready to go. He was glad that he had at least already changed out of his clothes and into the comfier ones that Zayn had packed for him. He saw Harry walk by and weakly reached his arms out to him.

"Papa," he whimpered.

"Sorry, bud, not right now," Harry said sympathetically, only stopping to drop a kiss on the top of his head, but not daring to oblige Niall and have Liam annoyed about it. It had been a long day for everyone, and it was just time to go back to the hotel and get some sleep.

Niall whined again as his vision began to blur with tears. He could feel himself getting tired and hungry, and he really just wanted to go home (or at least to the hotel). He didn’t even realize he was beginning to nod off until his Daddy was right in front of him, holding out his hand for Niall to take.

"Come on, love," he said gently.

Niall took his hand and stumbled along behind him, really wishing that Liam would have offered to carry him, but they were still around work people. Liam let go of his hand as soon as they’d reached the other boys, and Niall moved to lean against Zayn. Zayn instinctively wrapped an arm around Niall as he continued to talk with their management about the plans for the next day.

Niall kept moaning out little impatient noises and fidgeting, trying to get his Baba to pay attention to him, but nothing seemed to be working. He turned more into Zayn and buried his face in his shoulder as he started to cry.

Zayn felt Niall’s tears soaking into his shirt and decided to excuse himself. He walked with Niall to the furthest side of the room and sat down, pulling Niall into his lap. “What has you so upset, baby?” Zayn asked him, resting his chin on top of Niall’s head as he burrowed into his chest.

"Ignoring me," Niall mumbled out against his neck.

Zayn smiled and rubbed his back. “I was speaking with people, darling. You know I could never ignore you.”

Niall didn’t say anything, but after a few minutes, he pulled back to look at Zayn. “I’m hungry too, Baba,” Niall whined.

"Yeah? Even after all that yummy food we got?" Zayn said with a grin, tickling Niall’s stomach a little.

“Not all yummy,” Niall muttered, pulling away from Zayn instead of giggling like he always did when Zayn tickled his stomach.

"That’s true,” he smiled. “I think a certain little boy is also tired and cranky because he didn’t get a nap today. Am I right?"

Niall reluctantly nodded, not even trying to deny how tired he was.

"Right, then," Zayn said, standing from the couch and setting Niall in front of him. "On the way back to the hotel, we can pick up some McDonald’s, hmm? And then we can get you all ready for bed. And tonight you’re not going to fight your daddies because we know what happens when you do that, yeah?” Zayn said, thinking back to last night when Niall was too hyper to go to bed, which was cute at first… Until it wasn’t anymore at about 2 AM. Let’s just say Niall ended up crying in bed by himself after it was all over.

"Okay," Niall said, rubbing his eyes as well as the tears off his cheeks. Zayn smiled and took his hand and lead him back over to where the boys were.

"Get everything sorted then?" Liam asked as they came back and stood next to him.

"Yep, everything’s fine," Zayn assured him as Niall leaned back into him.

“You guys just take Niall; Harry and I will go back to the hotel tonight, probably room together too,” Louis said to Liam and Zayn.

“Okay, sounds good,”

As soon as the impromptu meeting was over, Zayn, Liam, and Niall climbed into a car that was waiting for them right outside the studio. Zayn leaned forward from the back seat to speak with the security guard that was driving them to the hotel.

"I think there’s a McDonald’s just up the road, is there any way we can stop and get some food?" Zayn asked him.

The driver agreed, and within five minutes they had pulled into the drive through.

"What do you want, baby?" Liam asked. Niall looked up briefly and shrugged, not wanting to make any decisions. "Okay… Do you want some nuggets, then?" Liam suggested.

"Sure," Niall said indifferently.

Liam proceeded to let the driver know of their order, and handed him money when he got to the window.

Niall brightened slightly when some chicken nuggets and french fries were put in his hands, and he immediately started munching on handfuls of food.

"Thank you, Daddy," Niall said happily.

"You’re welcome, babe," Liam said.

Niall finished eating quickly and was soon dozing off on Liam’s shoulder. The boys’ driver pulled in to the hotel parking lot and went around the building to the back entrance where no one else was. Zayn and Liam got out of the car quietly, and Liam lifted Niall into his arms to carry upstairs.

"Thanks, man," Zayn told the driver right before he drove off.

Liam carried Niall straight to the service elevator that they used so that no one would bother them at times like these and bounced Niall on his hip soothingly as they rode up to their room.

"Daddy?" Niall mumbled as Liam walked into the large hotel room.

"Shh, darling, it’s time to sleep now," Liam said, laying Niall down on his back on one of the beds before pulling off his shoes and socks. He left him in his sweatpants and t-shirt, seeing as the room was a little chilly. Liam tucked Niall in and then leaned down to kiss Niall’s forehead. "Goodnight, baby. I love you," he said softly and walked out of the room before Niall had even realized he was gone. He quickly sat up when he realized none of his daddies were sleeping with him, and his eyes flooded with tears.

"Daddy, Baba," Niall wailed out, wanting nothing but for them to come cuddle with him.

Zayn was in the room within seconds, nearly running over to the side of the bed Niall was sitting on. “What is it, baby, hmm?” He asked, wiping tears off of Niall’s cheeks with his thumbs.

"Want you and Daddy to stay with me," Niall whimpered. “Was being good tonight,” Niall reminded him.

"Okay. Alright, love. I’ll go get Daddy, okay?" Zayn said.

"And then you come back?" Niall asked with his lip still wobbling.

"Yes, sweetheart, and then I’ll come right back. Promise," Zayn assured him, kissing his cheek.

“And you will get Ty?” Niall asked, still quite teary.

“Yes, I will, love. Sorry I forgot,” Zayn said, standing to get Liam and Ty.

Niall sighed and lay back down, scooting toward the middle of the bed so that his Daddy and Baba could get in on either side of him and finally relaxing for the first time all day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Annnnnnd that's the last of my completed chapters! I'll update when I can!  
> Find me at -  
> tumblr: zniamkisses  
> wattpad: thewhimsical


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